Patterns of cellular phone use among young people in 12 countries: Implications for RF exposure

Abstract

Characterizing exposure to radiofrequency (RF) fields from wireless telecommunications technologies during childhood and adolescence is a research priority in investigating the health effects of RF. The Mobi-Expo study aimed to describe characteristics and determinants of cellular phone use in 534 young people (10-24years) in 12 countries. The study used a specifically designed software application installed on smartphones to collect data on the use of wireless telecommunications devices within this age group. The role of gender, age, maternal education, calendar period, and country was evaluated through multivariate models mutually adjusting for all variables. Call number and duration were higher among females compared to males (geometric mean (GM) ratio 1.17 and 1.42, respectively), among 20-24year olds compared to 10-14year olds (GM ratio 2.09 and 4.40, respectively), and among lowest compared to highest social classes (GM ratio 1.52 and 1.58, respectively). The number of SMS was higher in females (GM ratio 1.46) and the middle age group (15-19year olds: GM ratio 2.21 compared to 10-14year olds) and decreased over time. Data use was highest in the oldest age group, whereas Wi-Fi use was highest in the middle age group. Both data and Wi-Fi use increased over time. Large differences in the number and duration of calls, SMS, and data/Wi-Fi use were seen by country, with country and age accounting for up to 50% of the variance. Hands-free and laterality of use did not show significant differences by sex, age, education, study period, or country. Although limited by a convenience sample, these results provide valuable insights to the design, analysis, and interpretation of future epidemiological studies concerning the health effects of exposure resulting from cellular phone use in young people. In addition, the information provided by this research may be used to design strategies to minimize RF exposure.

The severity of mobile phone addiction and its relationship with quality of life in Chinese university students

“…The more frequent and excessive mobile phone use by female students is probably associated with the different patterns (Hans, 2006;Roberts, Yaya & Manolis, 2014) and purpose of mobile phone use between genders (Choi et al, 2015). Female students usually use mobile phones for conversations, personal messaging, and sending emails to maintain interpersonal relationship and broaden their social network (Bianchi & Phillips, 2005;Bonka, Robert & David, 2001;Fernandez-Villa et al, 2015;Junco, Merson & Salter, 2010;Langer et al, 2017); in contrast, for male students mobile phone is more often an entertainment tool (Hans, 2006). In addition, female students are more likely to use multimedia applications by smartphones (Chen et al, 2017).…”

Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation and Memory Performance: Sources of Uncertainty in Epidemiological Cohort Studies

“…Mobile phone applications (apps) such as XmobiSense and QuantaMonitor provide a potential alternative for exposure assessment [ 58 ]. The XmobiSense app has been used in the Mobi-Kids study and has been useful in pilot studies [ 12 , 39 , 40 ]. The XmobiSense app provides data on: The number of calls and SMS, duration of use, laterality, receiving power (Rx) of the mobile network and Wi-Fi (dBm), amount of transmitted and received data (kbs).…”

“…There is also a strong chance that English may not be the first language for a significant portion of participants in Australian studies. In some European countries there are many different dialects spoken within the same city and in the broader field of mobile phone use and health, the Interphone and Mobi-kids studies were conducted in multiple countries [ 4 , 39 , 40 ]. Even though the questionnaires used were validated and locally adapted, the possibility of some data being ‘lost in translation’ cannot be dismissed.…”

Design of an Integrated Platform for Mapping Residential Exposure to Rf-Emf Sources

“…For both modes, physiological data were also used (body weight, head weight, age [ 60 ]). Some of these parameters were calibrated with Mobi-Expo data [ 9 , 10 ]. values were measured in the 14th district through Nemo Handy trace mobile phones while uploading 100 MB files on an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server repeatedly.…”

“…The Mobi-Expo project analyzed the exposure induced by wireless communication devices using the application "Xmobisense," developed by C2M ("Modeling, Characterization and Control of exposure to electromagnetic waves" chair). The project studied the uplink exposure through parameters such as call duration and usage (laterality, hands-free kit) [9,10]. However, spatial Rf-Emf exposure, population statistics, and the usage of telecommunication technology (ICT) have not been combined into an integrated assessment.…”