Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives, and one can argue that they're almost an extension of our arm.
We seldom find ourself without our smartphone, primarily because they've made our life so much easier.
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However important smartphones may have become, but spending too much time on them may actually turn out to be harmful to you and your surrounding environment.
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Mobile phones and their towers generate radio waves. Several studies have suggested that though low frequency radio waves aren’t harmful to humans, but over exposure to them may lead to tumours in the body.
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Cancer aside, smartphones cause a variety of health issues. They have been found to increase anxiety and mental stress in teens. Mobile radiations may also cause learning disabilities and lowered IQ in infants, according to some reports.
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Teenagers often stay up late at night watching movies or chatting on their phones. This long exposure to the glare coming off the mobile screen can be damaging to the eyes. This also affects sleep cycle leading to fatigue and sleepiness.
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Outdoor activity (in kids and adults both) has almost been nullified by smartphone use. Children no longer go out to play cricket or any other sport, instead they stay at home playing games on their phones. Lack of exercise causes several health issues.
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Mobile phones can be fatal for people with implants. They are advised to keep mobiles away from the spot where the implant is lodged as a precautionary measure.
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Smartphones have pretty much killed face-to-face interactions. We’re glued to our phones during a family event or whether we're out having dinner. A party with friends now just turns into a bunch of people engrossed on their phones.
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More often than not, our attention is almost always diverted towards our phones. We tend to check our messages, instead of completing our assignment. Getting too engaged with mobile phones adversely affects productivity.
We often see signs warning us from using mobile phones while driving or crossing the road. But they are often overlooked. People still use phones while on the road. This diverted attention often result in fatal road accidents.
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Parents often give a mobile phone to their children to keep a tab on them. But the social media addiction makes them put their personal information out for the entire world to see. This information is used to bully and threaten people over the internet. Cyber crime is becoming a serious issue.
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Companies are releasing new phones into the market faster than the older models are becoming outdated. This drives people to exchange their old phones with new ones. This results in the generation of e-waste, leading to a possibility of toxic heavy metals like mercury and cadmium leaking into soil and underground water tables.
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Love honey? It might get difficult to get it soon. Radiations from mobile phones and towers are found to affect bee population. A decrease in bee population have been reported around the world and mobile radiations may be the primary cause behind it. Bees pollinate almost 80% of commercial crops and their decline is affecting agriculture. Other insects like monarch butterflies and flying ants have also been affected by mobile radiations.
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Plants facing a mobile tower antenna tend to have dry, brown tips. Mobile towers tend to affect the output of fruit-bearing plants as well.
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A recent? study by Ministry of Environment and Forests concluded that electromagnetic radiations (EMR) from mobile towers affect birds' flying patterns. EMR waves disrupt the sense of direction in migratory birds.
With great power comes great responsibility. And mobile technology does make us powerful. But cautious use of it might just help us all save the day.