Effects of Mobile Phones on Children's and Adolescents’ Health: A Commentary

Abstract

The use of digital technology has grown rapidly during the last couple of decades. During use, mobile phones and cordless phones emit radiofrequency (RF) radiation. No previous generation has been exposed during childhood and adolescence to this kind of radiation. The brain is the main target organ for RF emissions from the handheld wireless phone. An evaluation of the scientific evidence on the brain tumor risk was made in May 2011 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer at World Health Organization. The scientific panel reached the conclusion that RF radiation from devices that emit nonionizing RF radiation in the frequency range 30 kHz-300 GHz is a Group 2B, that is, a "possible" human carcinogen. With respect to health implications of digital (wireless) technologies, it is of importance that neurological diseases, physiological addiction, cognition, sleep, and behavioral problems are considered in addition to cancer. Well-being needs to be carefully evaluated as an effect of changed behavior in children and adolescents through their interactions with modern digital technologies.

What Drives Young Vietnamese to Use Mobile Health Innovations? Implications for Health Communication and Behavioral Interventions

“…In Sweden, 93% of adolescents have a mobile phone [4], while in the United States and China, this rate is approximately 73% and 82%, respectively [5,6]. Some previous literature emphasized the health problems related to mobile phone use and abuse among these groups, such as poor sleep quality [7], sedentary lifestyle [8], and increased risk of mental health issues [4,9]. However, the popularity of the mobile phone provides opportunities to engage youth and adolescents in innovative mobile health (mHealth) interventions that facilitate personal health care and self-management [10,11].…”

Impacts of technology use on children

“…As mentioned above adolescents might be more sensitive to light than adults, and more time using a device has been associated with a larger reduction in the melatonin response (Figueiro and Overington, 2016[120]). A systematic review of the literature uncovered 67 studies from 1999 to 2014 exploring sleep among school-aged children and adolescents, in which 90% of the studies found adverse associations between screen time and sleep outcomes such as delayed timing and shortened duration (Hale and Guan, 2015 [127]). It is important to note again here that association, or correlation, does not infer causation.…”

“…It is important to note again here that association, or correlation, does not infer causation. Furthermore, there tend to be issues with measurement error regarding screen time exposure and sleep times (Hale and Guan, 2015 [127]). For example, teens are likely to over-report sleep time, and there is little research to validate assessments of youth engagement in screen time using self-report and parent-reported measures (Hale and Guan, 2015 [128]).…”

Exposure assessment of radiofrecuency electromagnetic fields in academic areas

“…También puede ser usada cuando "hay inadecuada evidencia de carcinogenicidad en humanos pero hay suficiente evidencia de carcinogenicidad en animales de experimentación"(12). Este informe ha suscitado preocupaciones sobre los posibles riesgos para la salud asociados con los campos electromagnéticos, evidenciado últimamente en las numerosas publicaciones que evalúan el nivel de exposición de los seres humanos a los mismos (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”