Mobile phones have gained rapid and increased popularity in the first few years of their production. This was because it was easier for people to keep in touch. The use of mobile phones was restricted to the times when people would be away, or when large-scale coordination was required for operations. Times have changed and so have trends, almost three decades after the launch of cell phones; they are now being used as a part of life. Your handset is now perceived as a social identity card that talks about your image, your personality, and your income. Cell phones are also not restricted to being used by adults only. They have become a trendy object that every teenager must have, to be able to compete with the competition of blackberry and iPhones being carefully carried out in school. The cell phone market has its extensions into these young minds and for this purpose alone, cell phone companies are not working endlessly to make their products not only favorable to adults but to children and young adults as well. As a consequence, most people are wondering; Are cell phones dangerous for children?
Role of Parents in the Popular ‘Are Cell Phones Dangerous Debate’
Parents have been supportive of this invention because they get to keep track of their children and also stay hassle-free about being able to communicate with them when away. Children, aside from the feature, that allows them to keep in touch with all their friends, have also enjoyed the games, applications, and of course, the cameras as well.
Social networking website applications have also gained particular preference over phones which would not offer that feature to the user. But have parents given the dangers associated with cell phones a second thought? It is important for all those parents who have been allowing the use of cell phones amongst children as a regular activity, to understand the importance of the effects they can have on the child’s future.
Are Cell Phones Dangerous to Health?
Scientists have established that a child’s brain is still in development when the child hits pre-teens and teens. The development of the brain is complete only after the age of twenty, an age that most children do not reach without cell phones today. The brain continues to undergo growth through the formation of new connections and the development of new receptors till a human has lived through the first two decades of his/her life. Aside from that, the skull also continues to thicken till this age.
When scientists put further research into the subject, it was seen that the developing brain and thin skull are a medium to allow waves from the cell phone to be transmitted better. This does not ensure a higher network facility if that is what you assume. Instead, it implies that the radiation that is given out through cell phones, when in use can penetrate the brain of a child more than what would be possible in the brain of an adult. This is because the density of the brain is less in children, as compared to that in adults. After all, the brain has not developed. Also, the thinner skull has more bone marrow to facilitate growth which further pulls the radiation into itself.
The consequence of this excess penetration of the radiation in the brain can lead to increased chances of a brain tumor in later years of life. The radiation hinders brain development and stunts growth, while also causing mutation in the cells which would lead to cancer. It has been established that brain tumor cases are up to 30% higher in individuals who have been using a mobile phone before the age of twenty.
Another research that was carried out established that cell phones are safe for use and each handset being introduced in the market has been carefully tested in terms of the effects the radiation may have on people. However, all such tests have only been carried out on adults who can be termed safe because the radiation cannot penetrate deep into the brain.
With the increase in market trend where children are becoming avid cell phone users, it is important to redevelop the technology to make it safe for them as well, and it is also needed to redesign the tests being implemented to see the effects mobile phones have on children before they are introduced into the market.
However, till then, it becomes important for parents to exercise caution and control while allowing children to use cell phones to keep the risk of a brain tumor at bay.
