Wi-Fi devices in mobile phones have an important role in exchanging information and data to show images, audio, video and transfer applications from mobile emit radio waves. These waves emitted by mobile devices contain radiofrequency waves, where several types of research in this field have shown that they negatively affect, especially when using mobile phones for a long time during the day on vision and hearing levels in young people, as well as headaches and muscle pain, as well as not to mention that it is also the case that they are users of mobile phones. In addition, it can damage brain cells and may cause a brain tumor, even if several studies have not proven it. In addition, these studies, which were presented in this article, have concluded that the use of mobile phones, especially late at night, can negatively affect the quality of sleep.
Introduction
In the last era of our time, the performance of various types of mobile phones with Wi-Fi technology has increased, resulting in the popularity of owning such smart devices among people including children. Wi-Fi devices in mobile phones have an important role in exchanging information and data to show images, audio, video and transfer applications from mobile emitting radio waves.
The human body absorbs part of these emitted waves, especially when voice calls are made, its health and biological effects can be classified as thermal and non-thermal. Where the heating caused by the use of mobile phones occurs mainly in the head and neck area which is actually neutralized by the activity of the circulatory system in the brain area. This is because the frequency of the radiations emitted from the mobile is used in the range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz. Children are frequently using Wi-Fi services available in mobile devices, and they are often more vulnerable to the effects of radio microwaves because of their thinner skulls and higher fluid content, their nervous system is still developing, increased activity of cell division in their bodies, as well as the weakness of their immune response. However, scientific research has not demonstrated that these waves affect children’s health in the long term. Many medical explorations using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology have proven that children above the age of 5 to 8 years have a higher specific absorption rate than adults.
The immediacy of using the mobile by adults near young children may increase their attraction to the experience of using it, as well as many adults allow them to hold it to play or have fun, and this increases the likelihood of the child continuing to use the mobile throughout the period of growth and development and until the age of majority is attained. Because children who use mobile for a long time when they become older. It was found that the prevalence of mobile phone use among children aged 15–19 years in North America ranged from 42% to 52%, 2002, and <90% in the UK and Nordic nations. While it was 79.1% in Swedish children aged 7–14 years, 2007. Some shocking facts have been announced from a report prepared for the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), in which the report revealed that children who use mobile phones were very young (7-8) years in five countries including Japan, Indonesia, India, Chile and Egypt. Since 2006, which has focused on the need to conduct several researches to clarify the effect of radio-frequency waves on children. The review aims to identify the possible clear of the effect of mobile phone use on some health aspects of children and adolescents.
Method
A clear subject review study to reveal the results of newly published research about the effect of mobile phone use on some health aspects on children and adolescents, these health aspects are eye and ear health, nervous system, psychological effects, brain health and sleep quality and all selected articles were published till 2014. And these selected articles were written in English. After confirming the desired search topic and year of search including the keywords specified in the search (mobile phone use, children and adolescents, eye effects, ear problems, neurological and psychiatric effects, brain tumors, sleep quality, long-term effects), to look for the year of the study setting, (to include the search method, year of publication, date of publication, (search All the published articles selected in the review of this topic were carefully read to take the desired evidence. To identify and determine the possible or causal evidence of health aspects in relation to mobile phone use, the researcher has selected the results based on statistical analysis and either taken from a constructed table or presented to other research results.
Evidence based effects of mobile phones
• Eye health: Frequent use of mobile phones for a long time damages the visual system of the eye in different ways where it can cause eye tumors due to high temperature of the eye due to exposure to electromagnetic radiations and blocking of these radiations by the lens of the eye which later increases the chances of eye exposure to cataract disease. Bansal and Mahajan, 2018, in a study of 450 Indian children below the age of 15 years admitted to the Department of Pediatrics in a teaching for tertiary care found that more than one third of them (35.7%) suffered from eye symptoms including eye strain and watery eyes. Another recent study, which included 177 Saudi students studying in a middle school in Riyadh city, aged 12 to 116 years, found that using smartphones for more than 28 hours a week caused visual disturbances.
• Ear problems: The increase in temperature in the ear lobe by about 10°C may cause hearing disturbances while using the mobile for a period of about 20 minutes and for a longer period of time as the radiation emitted from the mobile may also damage the sensitive parts of the inner ear and even for bef for 2-3 hours exposure may even cause ear tumors or permanent hearing loss.
• Neurological effects: Neurologically, the microwave radiation emitted from mobile phones through Wi-Fi device mostly affects the head region. In a study conducted by Cerutti R, et al (2016) they revealed that adolescents are exposed to some harmful effects such as headache attacks and other somatic problems as a result of excessive use of mobile devices. And exposure to headaches was significantly associated with the use of mobile phones among tweenish children in another study published in 2015 [6]. Recently, Joe Fowler and Jan Noyes found that children aged 11- 14 years in the South West of England at risk of muscular skeletal problems due to mobile use.
• Psychiatric effects: A recent study conducted by Seong-Soo Cha and Bokyung Seo in South Korea revealed that lethargy and depression were higher in the risk group (excessive mobile users) than the normal user group, and these findings were a trend of significant difference. But in another study conducted on a group of Japanese youth aged 15-19 years, it was revealed that mobile phone use for social networking services, and interaction with others for two hours or more is significantly associated with higher risk rate with depression. Some studies indicate that there is a relationship between the use of mobile phones and stress, some of which deny it because it is difficult to interpret and summarize the relationship between them. Some researchers have proven that stress increases due to mobile use and others have proved the opposite. In a study conducted on a group of high school respondents, their average age was 11.97 years. This may be because children may experience various biological and psychological changes during their lifetime for a daily period. As for the relationship between exposure to anxiety and mobile phone use, two recent studies have been investigated by Elhai, et al and another by Nassi, et al. They proved that there is a significant relationship between the occurrence of anxiety and mobile phone use.
• Brain Tumors: Over the past two decades, several medical studies have been carried out which were aimed at assessing the health risks posed by mobile phone use where some researchers suggested that prolonged mobile use has a higher risk of developing brain tumors and there is no overall increase in the risk especially surrounding the sides of the head where it has been shown that glucose metabolism levels are higher in brain tissues when those tissues are exposed to radiofrequency radiations emitted from mobile phones and for a longer period of time such as 50 minutes or more. A multi-center study conducted by Sadetzki et al, on a sample of children and adolescent mobile phone users between (7-19) years, where that study revealed a statistically significant health risk of developing brain tumors in regular users (one call weekly and for at least six months). And there was no adequate data for the long-term effect of mobile phones on the brain, and it was found that the time accumulated from the first use of mobile until the diagnosis of the tumor was only five years, so a lot more research is needed to get more accurate results. Children mobile phone users are more susceptible to brain tumors than adults and the reason may be that children have smaller and lighter heads and their brain tissues are high in conductivity. Thus all these factors help to reduce the absorption of radiation into the brain.
• Sleep problems: Sleep is considered to be one of the essential human needs which constitutes one-third of his/her daily life where sleep is a state of reversible unconsciousness and in this case, the cells of the body and mind are renewed and work is done to repair and develop. The results of several newly published studies applied to a group of young mobile phone users in Turkey Japan, Iran have shown that increasing the duration of mobile phone use reduces the quality of sleep and affects it. The lack of rational use of electronic media has a negative impact on the quality of sleep in children and adolescents.
Conclusion
The results of this article have shown that long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile devices can damage the visual system and sensitive parts of the ear, exposure to frequent headaches, lethargy, and possibly they develop lethargy and depression and not to forget the increased risk of brain tumors.
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