How Smartphones Affect Your Health?

Smartphones and mental health go side by side due to their excessive use.

Certainly, the exposure to the screen for considerably longer times without interruption comes with compromised vision, fatigue, and eye strain that ultimately add to the persistent headache!

You might have seen people complaining about affected eyes, undoubtedly due to the addition of screens, especially smartphones.

However, the broader picture is smartphones are affecting your health!

The higher level of non-ionizing radiation – or radiofrequency – emitting from the smartphone increases body temperature. If the emission is low, it could seriously cause a major ailment, including a brain tumor or other psychological health risks.

The health risks associated with smartphones are not restricted to mere eye strain etc.. Still, with the advanced technology used in phones, which we all use “regardless of time,” textiles (a kind of osteoarthritis), peevish or irritated behaviors, and other parameters have become common.

There is a whole lot of gamut that smartphones come along with regarding their effect on your health! In this article, we shall analyze each of the concerns related to smartphone usage and figure out if there is a way to tackle this. Scroll a few more times!

Health Concerns and Risks Associated with Mobile Phones

Smartphones, one of the most usable and essential day-to-day gadgets, come under the risk of hygiene factors. While you use and hold your phones in your hands, it is pretty apparent the availability of germs becomes apparent. The irony is we still use phones, and chances are you’re reading this article on your phone!!

As per an authentic study by Seattle Times journalist Bobby Caina Calvan, your smartphone has 25,127 bacteria per square inch. Certainly, these germs work well to compromise your health in every possible way, from flu and cough to any major ailment.

Besides, smartphones and children’s health are vulnerable since kids are more prone to germs.

How Smartphone Addiction Is Affecting Our Physical and Mental Health

For obvious reasons, smartphones and health have always been subject to boon or a bane topic. Like anything, the nonstop screen time and ultimate use of multiple apps is nothing but another name for smartphone addiction. As mentioned above, smartphones and technology have a major role in running mental health if not used in control.

Let’s particularly talk about young adults and adolescents. Smartphones even have powerful yet adverse effects on how we think by targeting those sensitive brain cells due to the exposure of light and rays, not to mention that apps and games play a central role in keeping you stay glued.

Likewise, the Text Neck Syndrome for smartphone users is another threatening risk caused by continuous neck injury while you keep your head leaned forward for a significantly longer period.

This forwarded neck posture also affects the curvature of the cervical spine and negatively affects the neck and shoulder muscles and supporting ligaments.

1. Effects on Brain And Thinking Capabilities

Smartphone addiction side effects are numerous. From fertility loss in men to poor memory, you can be on the verge of mental laziness if you do not limit its usage now. If you are forgetting things more often than not and aren’t concentrating on your work like you used to do, the reason could be none other than excessive smartphone usage.

In a nutshell, smartphones have so many effects on your brain health that if you keep pun persisting, using this device could lead you to suffer consequences such as tumors.

For the brain, smartphones have a major impact on cognitive capabilities, especially when you have the phone in reach, according to the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research. And that is certainly true. The kind of distraction and uneasiness you experience while the smartphone “with active internet service” is around is certainly alarming.

2. The Psychological and Mental Crash

The use of smartphones and their effect on our mental state has mixt approaches. While it adds to the poor communication with our family members and makes anxiety a highlighted part, it is also important to note that it helps boost relaxed and satisfying behavior, especially in youngsters.

However, the more you use the screen, it ultimately brings in the sand psychological state due to the “comparison” there. In one work, smartphones impact our psychological wellness, including shyness, low self-esteem, difficulties in cognitive-emotion regulation, impulsivity, impaired cognitive function, and addiction to social networking.

Precautions to Reduce Smartphone’s Effect On Health

The most alluring thing about technology is that- you can control it. While we have mentioned a pretty much flip side of smartphones having a serious impact on your health and mental condition, it is still possible that you turn this effect into a positive impact! Luckily there are many ways you can reduce the adverse effect of smartphones on your mental and physical health. Here’s how.

1. Reduce Screen Time

Nobody works continuously throughout the day. Admit it! You might find time to scroll through social media, check posts, notifications, share, and more, which takes more time without your notice.

While it has a bad effect on your eyesight, it also compromises your posture and leaves you with Text Neck Syndrome. However, by reducing screen time, you can help your health to become better. Make sure you only hold your phone when necessary and not always. Luckily you have apps that monitor the screen time and keep you well-aware of how much time you have spent on screen.

2. Digital Detox

You probably haven’t heard the term “Digital Detox,” but it is a highlighted factor regarding the precautions to reduce smartphones’ effect on health! In simpler words, the digital detox is when you take a break from social interaction, especially from a smartphone, laptop, etc., and keep away from checking notifications, emails, and more such alarms.

It greatly boosts your compromised health, be it eyesight or mental health concerns. Digital detox would help you eliminate stress, and hence you get boosted productivity in all respects. This period could be a few days to several months, depending on the severity of your health.

3. Take Regular Breaks

If you keep on testing using your smartphone, it directly affects the eye as the small screen has a major risk for compromised vision compared to laptops or tablets. If fully digital detox is not possible due to workload or any other reasons, you could always take some random breaks to ease your eyesight, posture, and joints.

Positive Impacts of Smartphones on Society

Keeping facts and figures lucid would not be wrong to say smartphones are more like a blessing in disguise! While there are some cons of smartphones (which are more in our hands), the brighter picture is filled with benefits, the ultimate ease of using technology, and a positive impact on society.

While I saw the impact on society, these little handy phones have a powerful approach to bring changes in a layman, be it health, education, access to information, or the availability of multiple other gamuts that brings in the positive approach 24/7.

Moreover, learning and education apps have made life easier for kids, adults, and professionals. Although the internet has a major role to play, a handy smartphone comes with the absolute privilege of mobility and a carrying-around approach.

1. Social Impact

And when we talk about the user-friendly and worthwhile mobile network that assists the user overboard, you have the freedom to choose to Talk Home Mobile without a second thought. It is one of the U.K’s most trusted MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) powered by the E.E. network.

Talk Home offers plenty of perks for smartphone users and network holders, including no contract or agreement approach. The best-highlighted part about Talk Home Mobile is that you do not have to pay for the credit check or a minimum sign-up period as a novice user.

Also, with monthly plans rich in minutes, texts, and internet data, your digital life gets an edge to make its use around the U.K.! However, if you want to roam around the world, Talk Home comes with many international plans as well.

Talk Home works oddly well regarding accessibility for users around the whole U.K., yet you have the privilege to opt for mobile top-ups, not with multiple distributors.

2. Impact on Education

And in the days of Covid-19, the way technology and smartphones have played their role is appreciated. Be it work from home, education, online classes, lecture attending time, or more, Smartphones have had an unbeatable impact on the education niche, which is certainly worth appreciating.

3. Impact on Business

And if we talk about the impact on business, smartphones are a personal assistant that keeps on the fuller check on scheduling and much more.

With enhanced work productively, the apps, especially the business-oriented ones, work pretty wisely to bring you the most out of your business tasks.

In fact, these phones work more productively best for professional users than the regular layman who just has to scroll on multiple apps!

Smartphones On Mental and Physical Well-being

You can use technology for your mental & physical well-being by downloading helpful apps and games. From solving puzzles to learning a new language, there are multiple options you could benefit from.

To name a few apps, you can give a shot for Moodfit, MoodMission, Talkspace, Sanvello, Calm and more.

Some apps are free, while for some, you have to opt for a membership fee. However, whatever the fee is, you have to indulge in some worthwhile activity when it comes to technology at any cost!

After all, it’s about your mental and physical health, and if smartphones can take the ease out of your life, you can also use them to bring smoother digital satisfaction.

Smartphones Impact Day-to-day Life

It won’t be wrong to say that smartphones have captured our life to a greater extent. From ordering food to looking for the exact road, we lean on this device in the first place. Certainly, that indicated its worthwhile performance and role in our lives.

From the very basic purpose, communication to entertainment, getting information about a specific quarry or first-aid medical health, the impact of smartphones in everyday life is ubiquitous.

Also, to keep things well-organized, the smartphone has its surprising and optimal performance, be it in keeping your health by step-counting apps or letting you write your urgent notes whenever you want!

However, due to the availability of thousands of social interaction apps, the parameter of addiction towards phones is somewhat more dominant, which ultimately causes depression among youngsters.

For studies, smartphones cause distraction, and the waste of time becomes a by-product of smartphones.

Conclusion

Typically, Smartphones are not dangerous to your health “as long as you keep the user in the limit.”

However, when you go overboard and increase your screen time by checking notifications, emails, playing games, and scrolling through social media, things become adverse for your mental and physical health.

In this article, we have shed light on how smartphones affect your health and how you can stop being a sufferer.

Besides, with the availability of helpful and assisting apps and screen time monitoring add-on, you can no longer complain about the digital risk.

It is practically impossible to eradicate smartphones from our lives since they also contribute the most.

However, with some wise steps and shrinking the screen time, we can surely help ourselves enjoy sound mental and physical health. We hope this write-up will help you.