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A Study on Some of the Common Health Effects of Cell-Phones amongst College Students

Jayanti P Acharya, Indranil Acharya and Divya Waghrey

Background: Cell phones are being used by each and every one today. Their use without any knowledge of their harmful effects is unsafe. Studies on cancers due to electromagnetic radiations from cell phones are available but there is a need to research on the harmful physical and mental effects esp. on rampant users, like college-goers. This study focused on the health effects of cell phone usage amongst students pursuing professional courses in colleges in an urban setting.
Materials and methods: College students of both sexes in the age group 17-23 years from urban and rural backgrounds were selected at random (those using cell phones). They were given self-administered, pre-tested questionnaire which included aspects related to few common adverse mental and physical health symptoms attributed to cell phone usage.
Results: Expectedly, almost all the subjects (96.1%) possessed cell phones, and used the device for a greater part of the day. Headache was found to be the commonest symptom (51.47%) followed by irritability/anger (50.79%). Other common mental symptoms included lack of concentration and poor academic performance, insomnia, anxiety etc. Among physical symptoms –body aches (32.19%), eye strain (36.51%), digital thumb (13.8%) were found to be frequent. Accidents are caused due to cell phone driving. Suggestions: Less dependence on the device, curtailing time period spent on talking, communicating more by texting, holding the device as much away from the head as possible or using headphones/loudspeaker facility, etc. were some of the take-home messages advocated to the subjects to minimize and prevent the adverse effects.