The Impact of Cellular Phones
on Health
Zachary Bennett, Brad Churches, Kambryn Lowrey, Carson Tingler, Jacob
Young
Introduction
●
●
●
●
●
●
Phones integral part of life
Most people carry with 24/7
We often use communication, entertainment, and work
Vital part of each day
Understanding effects of phones on humanity
Positive/negative impacts
Introduction (cont.)
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Phones have had profound effects on humanity
Included but not limited to physical positives and negatives
How phones have impacted humanity’s physical health?
Ranges from adverse effects such as headaches
Positive effects such as the ability to monitor exercise
Also examine the mental effects of phone use
And the social impacts phones have in our day-to-day interactions
Physical Aspect - Positive
●
●
●
●
●
Cell phones promote physical health
Apps useful in activity promotion
Doctor/patient communication methods
Sedentary regulation via cell phones
Statistics support the conceptual design
Physical Aspect - Positive (cont.)
● App specializations to further benefits
● Differences in app utilizations
● Strategies to raise their effectiveness
Physical Aspect - Negative
●
●
●
●
●
Cell phones can be detrimental to our physical health
Neck Pain - “Text Neck”
Hand Pain - “SMS Thumb”
Eye strain from close contact to the face
Car accident Injuries
Physical Aspect - Negative (cont.)
● Young Adults/College Students are targeted more than others
● The Department of Community Medicine and Bhasker Medical
●
College found that cell phones did have negative effects on college
students that include headaches, body aches, eye strain, and thumb
pain. (Acharya 2013).
“The study showed that musculoskeletal problems in neck and hand
(predominantly thumb) can be seen in smartphone addicted students,
which may be short term initially but may later lead to long term
disability” (Shah PP 2018).
Physical Aspect - Negative (cont.)
● Cell phone radiation linked to cancer?
● The Department of Electrical Electronic and Computer
Engineering and University of Pretoria, discussed the
possible results of radiation that can occur with cell phone
use (Om J 2019)
● Found that radiation might affect DNA and could lead to the
growth of cancer
● Not proven yet, but has been continuously researched by
other study groups
Mental Aspect - Positive
● Phones positive effect
● Mental state with the right
application.
● Allow monitoring
● Aspects well-being
● Different applications help
regulate mental state
Mental Aspect - Positive (cont.)
● Phones are easily accessible,
● Provide an easy route for
●
●
●
●
intervention
Ways to help with mental state
Study
249 participants,
62.3%-72.8% reported strongly
considering mobile phones
treatment
Mental Aspect - Positive (cont.)
●
●
●
●
●
MyHealthPA one such app
People mental history
Mental state
Cardiovascular health
Options for improvement
Mental Aspect - Positive (cont.)
Health issue
History of mental illness, current
History of mental illness, no distress
No mental illness, current distress
distress (N=48), n (%)
(N=55), n (%)
(N=8), n (%)
Diet
23 (48)
30 (55)
3 (38)
Physical activity
29 (60)
37 (67)
5 (63)
Cardiovascular disorder
7 (15)
16 (29)
1 (13)
Smoking
9 (19)
6 (11)
1 (13)
Alcohol use
7 (15)
12 (22)
1 (13)
Mood
31 (65)
33 (60)
5 (63)
Mental health
35 (73)
41 (75)
7 (88)
Mental Aspect- Negative
● Association of declining
●
●
●
●
mental health
Especially in adolescents and
young adults
External factors lead to abuse
of phones
Leads to internalization and
lack of confrontation
Behavioral and emotional
problems go unaddressed
Mental Aspect- Negative (cont.)
● Mobile Phones have an
●
●
●
●
affect on mental health
Impacts how symptoms
are expressed
Leads to more
externalization
Phones affect quality of
sleep
More research needed
Societal Aspect- Positive
● Phones get a bad reputation
● Less connected, people can’t socialize, “dumbs down”
society
● Evidence to the contrary
Societal Positive (cont.)
● Borgen Project
● Literacy rates in developing African countries was
stagnant at 52% until widespread smartphone availability
● Post 2008, literacy rates are up to 63%
● Common pattern throughout developing world
Societal Aspect- Negative
● Mental health issues are at an all time high
● New research supports idea that phones are strong
contributor
● Social media fatigue- “mental exhaustion from an
overload of information through technology and
communication resulting in higher likeliness of mental
health problems and depression” (Dhir et al., 2018).
Societal Aspect- Negative (cont.)
● A survey of two sets of 1300 students at two schools in India
aged 12-18 asked various questions about their social media
usage and effects on their mental health (Dhir et al., 2018).
● “Used facebook to forget about personal problems” Group 174%, Group 2 73%
● “Becomes restless or troubled if prohibited from FB use”
Group 1-61% Group 2-63%
● “I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me”
Group 1-79%, Group 2-83%
Societal Aspect- Negative (cont.)
● 2018 study at University of Pennsylvania (Hunt et al.,
2018).
● 143 undergrads split into two groups
● Group A could only use social media for 10 minutes per
platform per day
● Group B had no restrictions, use their social media as
normal
● 3 weeks
Societal Aspect- Negative (cont.)
● Treatment group had significant decrease in loneliness and
●
●
●
depression vs. control
Those with higher levels of depression at beginning of study were
most impacted, but all had improvements in mental health
Many treatment group students said their outlook on social media
changed after study, it felt less important to their lives than
previously thought
Control group also felt decreased fear of missing out and anxiety
because they became self aware of use and monitored themselves
Conclusion
●
●
●
●
●
Humanity and technology over time
Phones effect on physical health
Mental health and cell phones
Cell phones have changed society
Expansion of research into technology and health
Works Cited
Acharya, J. P., Acharya, I., & Waghrey, D. (2013). A study on some of the common health effects of
cell-phones amongst college students. Journal Community Medical and Health Education,
3(214), 2161-0711. Doi:1000214.
Berry, N., Bucci, S., & Lobban, F. (2017). Use of the internet and mobile phones for self-management of
severe mental health problems: Qualitative study of staff views. JMIR Mental Health, 4(4).
https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.8311
Champion, L., Economides, M., & Chandler, C. (2018). The efficacy of a brief app-based mindfulness
intervention on psychosocial outcomes in healthy adults: A pilot randomised controlled
trial. PLOS ONE, 13(12), 1-20.
Coughlin, S. S., Whitehead, M., Sheats, J. Q., Mastromonico, J., & Smith, S. (2016). A Review of
Smartphone Applications for Promoting Physical Activity. Jacobs Journal of Community
Medicine, 2(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4811195/
Works Cited
Dhir, A., Yossatom, Y., Kaur, P., & Chen, S., (2018). Online social media fatigue and psychological
wellbeing–a study of compulsive use, fear of missing out, Fatigue, anxiety, and
depression. International Journal of Information Management, 40, 141-152. Doi:
10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.01.012
Fanning, J., Mullen, S. P., & McAuley, E. (2012). Increasing Physical Activity with Mobile Devices: A
Meta-Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14(6), e161.
https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2171
Girela-Serrano, B. M., Spiers, A. D., Ruotong, L., Gangadia, S., Toledano, M. B., & Di Simplicio, M.
(2022). Impact of mobile phones and wireless devices use on children and
adolescents’ mental health: A systematic review. European Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-02012-8
Hunt, M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No more Fomo: Limiting Social media decreases
loneliness and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37 (10), 751-768.
doi:10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751
Works Cited
Inal, Y., Wake, J. D., Guribye, F., & Nordgreen, T. (2020). Usability evaluations of mobile mental
health technologies: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(1),
56-74. doi:10.2196/15337
Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2019). A systematic review: The influence of social media on
depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal
of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93, doi: 10.1080/0267383.2019.1590851
Om, J. (2019). The Effects of Cell Phone Radiation on the Human Body: An Overview. European
Journal of Engineering and Technology Research, 4(3), 166-169.
Proudfoot, J., Clarke, J., Birch, MR. et al. Impact of a mobile phone and web program on symptom
and functional outcomes for people with mild-to-moderate depression, anxiety and
stress: a randomised controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry 13, 312 (2013).
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-312
Works Cited
Roser, K., Schoeni, A., Foerster, M. et al. Problematic mobile phone use of Swiss adolescents: is it linked
with mental health or behaviour?. Int J Public Health 61, 307–315 (2016).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0751-2
Shah, P. P., & Sheth, M. S. (2018). Correlation of smartphone use addiction with text neck syndrome and
SMS thumb in physiotherapy students. International Journal of Community Medicine and
Public Health, 5(6), 2512.
Snehil, D., & Nandakumar, G. (2021, March 30). Promoting healthy lifestylesusing information technology
during the COVID-19 pandemic. IMR Press.
https://www.imrpress.com/journal/RCM/22/1/10.31083/j.rcm.2021.01.187/htm#Abstract
Thornton, L., Kay-Lambkin, F., Tebbutt, B., Hanstock, T. L., & Baker, A. L. (2018). A mobile phone–based
healthy lifestyle monitoring tool for people with mental health problems (MyHealthPA):
Development and pilot testing. Journal of Medical Internet Research Cardio, 2(2), 59-74.
doi:10.2196/10228