Health Problems Caused by Phone Addiction/total Security

 

These new diseases that appeared with cell phones

While we often talk about the dangerousness of electromagnetic waves for our health, we rarely mention the new diseases that have appeared with the emergence of mobile technology, especially with cell phones. Dependence, balance disorder, eye problems ... Back to these pathologies from which you may be suffering without even knowing it.

Nomophobia

Understand “ no mobiLe phone phobia ”, or “non-cell phone phobia”. This is the phobic worry of not being able to use your cell phone: bad signal, insufficient battery level, difficulty finding your phone ... All of these elements can cause intense stress for some dependent users. A pathology that makes you unable to turn off your mobile phone or not to check your notifications systematically. A real obsession. 

The cyber malaise 

This is an imbalance caused by the use of 3D applications available on some smartphones. These applications would result in a mismatch between eye movements and the signals received by the system that controls balance, with the brain interpreting 3D movements as real movements. A shift that can cause eye problems, nausea and dizziness.

Ghost Phone Syndrome

Caused by phone addiction, this syndrome simply results in the false impression, on a regular and repeated basis, that your phone is vibrating. A syndrome that can also be auditory, with the sensation of hearing your phone ringing when it is not. As with nomophobia, it is often a sign of phone addiction that can lead to compulsive behavior.

Dry eye syndrome

This is damage to the eye caused by staring at screens for a long time. Having your eyes fixed on a screen, especially one small in size like a cell phone, can reduce the number of eye blinks by about a third and cause a change in tear production that can lead to a reduction in the number of eye blinks. eventually lead to permanent damage to the eyes.

Textonitis or tendonitis of the thumb

Writing text messages, surfing the net: more than 20% of users say they spend between 2 and 4 hours a day tapping on their phone. A practice that puts a lot of stress on the joints of our fingers and can result in inflammation of the tendons and cause pain and cramps.

Physical health problems? what if it was due to your phone?

Accidents due to inattention, postural problems, tension, eyestrain, sleep disorders,… the list of physical risks is long.

 Risk of inattention

We have our heads tilted to our smartphone, focused on the small screen. The urgency is to answer or type a text message… Watch out for the consequences.  In the city, pedestrians put their lives in danger by crossing the streets without checking whether a two-wheeler or a vehicle is coming. The term  smombies , a contraction of zombies and smartphone, appeared to designate these pedestrians with risky behavior. press articles are multiplying:  “With their noses on the smartphone, pedestrians are putting themselves in danger” . Warning as to fall down the stairs, the collision between two persons or an obstacle ...  The  Road Safety totalsecurity.

 also warns against inattention while driving: 1 in 2 drivers say they use their phone while driving, the risk of accidents is multiplied by 3, almost 1 in 10 bodily accidents is linked to using the phone while driving . 

Musculoskeletal problems  

We send miles of text messages every day… A habit which, repeated for several hours in bad postures, can generate back pain, stiff neck, neck pain: this is the “Text-neck” syndrome,  neck  pain. texts.

The wrist, hand and especially the thumb are very stressed. Specialists in hand surgery and trauma note an increase in consultations for pain in young people.

Sleeping troubles

No more sweet dreams!

What is the link between sleep disorders and the smartphone? Melatonin, the sleep hormone.

Blue light from screens slows down melatonin production and disrupts our body clock by mimicking daylight. The day of sleep in 2016 dealt with: "  Sleep and new technologies  ". According to the survey conducted by the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance, 36% of people consult their screens in bed, 52% have at least one smartphone near their bed or under their pillow ...

 

Visual disturbances

 If we stay too long in front of a screen, we experience a tingling sensation, burning, eye strain. However, the screen of a cell phone is much smaller than that of a computer and therefore forces the eye to adapt to its size. Even if its use does not damage the eyesight, it can tire it, dry out the eye and accelerate latent problems, such as myopia.

Béatrice Cochener, ophthalmologist, already described these risks in an article in 2014: “  The five unsuspected harmful effects of the telephone on our body  ” .

 

To hang up ! to protect you ...

 " Yes, there is a smartphone addiction but it is possible to pick up r", these are the terms expressed by the president of  SOS Addictions  Laurent Karila, addictions psychiatrist.

Some simple steps can help you avoid long-term problems:

- try to forget your smartphone as long as possible

- do not reply to your emails and notifications down to the second

- leave it at your bedroom door or put it on airplane mode at night

- do not put it down on the table during meals

- use a hands-free kit

- do not give a smartphone to a child who is too young (child psychiatrists recommend not before the age of 15) 

 
Some initiatives have emerged to make us aware of the extent of:

- World Days without mobile phone and smartphone, on the initiative of Philippe Marso , held every year in February, three days devoted to the disconnection . The 2017 theme was “  Smartphone: dominator of our lives  ”

- Tests to assess its addiction:

Are you addicted to your phone?   20-question test, conducted by Iowa State University

Never alone on the road , achieved by road safety.