Technology has made life easier, now we no more miss our loved ones so much because with our smartphones will speak to them in any part of the world.
Technology has a lot of amazing benefits and now, it is difficult to imagine life without technology. Most especially smartphones, we have to come to the point in history that we can’t do without them.
Some are so addicted to their smartphones that they go with it anywhere and even sleep with them. We check them regularly, they are always in our palms.
They cause a great deal of comfort and make life easy but they also have some drawback, on our environment and health. In this post, I will be exposing some of the dangers of smartphones to our health.
Most especially to your skin and tell you what you can do about it. Below are some of the ways your smartphone is destroying your skin.
Ways Your Smartphone is Destroying your Skin
1. Harbors Germs and Bacteria
Your smartphone harbor’s a lot of germs and bacteria because you take them almost anywhere you go, including the toilet and when you are filling gas. It even looks as if the smartphone is an extension of our bodies.
In taking then everywhere and handling them all the time, our phones have a lot of opportunities to come in contact with germs and bacteria, the warm nature of the smartphone doesn’t even help matters at all as the warmth encourage the growth of these dangerous microbes on your phone.
Some studies even suggest that mobile phones contain more bacteria than toilet seats. These unhealthy bacteria come in contact with your skin when you make or receive calls and cause skin problems including an irritated and tired complexion.
Make it a duty to clean your phone two or more times daily using a solution of water and alcohol and a soft cloth. Dry the phone using a microfiber cloth when you are done with the cleaning. This will keep your phone and your skin free from bacteria.
2. Rapid Aging
Your smartphones and your computers which emit blue light also known as high-energy visible light (HEV) are making you age quickly. These rays penetrate the skin deeply than UV rays.
They damage your collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. There is also scientific evidence that this light can worsen pigmentation problems like brown splotches known as melisma.
Although scanty, there is evidence that blue light cause skin cancers. Reduce the hours you spend in front of screens and your smartphones.
3. Destroy Your Senses
It is now coming to the limelight that our smartphones could be destroying our senses. Some health experts believe that these rays emitted by our phones could be cooking our eyeballs slowly.
Some years back a team of scientists in Israel conducted a study in which they exposed cow eyes to the kind of heat and radiation our smartphones emit. They used cow eyes because they are similar to human eyes.
The found out that if the eyes are exposed to these rays and heat for a long time, tiny bubbles will start developing in the lens of the eyes, this, in turn, will lead to cataracts.
A few years back, some researchers in India also carried out an experiment similar to this and found that out that apart from the rays and heat affecting the eyes, the eyeballs cannot disperse the heat into other parts of the body, therefore, it accumulates all of it and this leads to eye problems.
Phone usage also affects your hearing, another study discovered that people who use phones for more than an hour a day over the course of 4 years can cause damages in your inner ear. This causes high-frequency hearing loss, you might not be able to hear consonant sounds like T, F, Z, and S.
4. Irritated Skin, Breakouts, and Clogged Pores
You must have noticed a thin film of oil on your phone screen at some point, that oil was transferred to your phone from your face while you were making or receiving calls.
This oil in combination with the one from your fingertips and the bacteria accumulating on the surface of your phone can cause uneven skin tone, clogged pores, and irritation when you put the phone against your skin to make or receive calls.
Clan your phone daily and also use earpiece or headphone to reduce or prevent your phone from coming in contact with your skin.
5. Smart Phones Increase BMI in Children
Scientists at the Penn State College of Medicine recently conducted a research which showed that children who spent late nights on phones and computers have increased risks of a higher body mass index when compared to children who don’t. This cuts into their sleep time and causes metabolic problems.
6. Allergies
You can be allergic to your phone especially if the case is made up of elements like chromium, cobalt, and nickel. These elements can act as allergens because some people are sensitive to them.
People who are sensitive to these elements can develop “Mobile phone dermatitis” which is characterized by an inflamed skin with the presence of blisters.
7. Texting hurt your fingers
People who text excessively or non-stop have higher risks of developing arthritis in their joint. It also leads to increased bone and cartilage-related problems. Doctors have a name for this, they call it “texting thumb”.
8. Text Neck
If you always look down at your phone, there is a higher risk of you developing text neck or tech neck. This condition causes a breakdown of collagen and pains and it also leads to skin loss and premature wrinkles under your chin.
Avoid this condition by holding your phone at your eye level, this will help your neck look firm and straight. Don’t walk and text, this will hurt your neck and cause excessive wear and tear that can only be corrected by surgery.
Tech neck is difficult to treat or reverse when it happens, it can only be handled with lasers and fillers and other forms of aggressive treatment.
9. Causes cellphone elbow
Excessive texting does not only affect the thumb and fingers but your elbow also. When you constantly bend your elbow at an angle when typing, it causes pain and nerve compression.
In cellphone elbow, the ulnar nerve that passes through the elbow gets pinched or trapped when you keep your hand bent at a particular angle for a long time.
10. Stress
Phone addiction causes stress, people who can’t do without their phones get stressed and even nervous when they are not with their phone. This is called “Nomophobia”, it is the fear of being without your mobile phone.
This syndrome causes stress, the root cause of chronic diseases which are the leading cause of death on the planet. This stress will affect your skin and cause breakouts.
11. Affects your eyes
Spending long hours on the phone and bright screens attack our eyes, that why you feel tired after spending long hours on your phone or computer.
Staring at your cell phone for a long time can cause dry eyes, fatigue, double vision, headache, and light sensitivity. Reduce the hours you spend on your cell phones especially at night and in the morning when you wake up.
12. Dark Spots
Non-UV rays from smartphones can cause dark spots on your skin, this happens if you spend long hours on your phone, you will develop dark spots on the exact part of your face where the phone faces.
To avoid this, reduce your usage and dependence on phones, keep your phone at a distance when using it by using hand-free devices and you can apply sunscreen if you use it to reduce the damages caused by these non-UV rays.
13. Affects your posture
Excessive use of smartphones, laptops, and other devices can cause severe strain on the neck and back and this is mostly caused by bad posture. When this is done regularly, it can cause degeneration of the spine and bad posture.
The pressure on your cervical spine increases when you spend a lot of hours looking at your smartphone, constant stress will also be placed on your muscles, this will cause damage and inflammation.
14. Makes you tired
You can feel tired easily when you are constantly on the phone even when you are not involved in any physical activity. Constant fatigue will dull your complexion and make your skin look pale.
15. Fine lines and crow’s feet
When you constantly stare into bright screens such as your phone or computers, you will squint, especially when trying to read letters in small font. This will lead to the development of crow’s feet and fine lines around your eyes.
Increase your font size and reduce the brightness of your skin, you should also reduce the number of hours you spend using your phone. You will be doing your skin a great favor if you do so.
16. Eye Wrinkles
Tiny letter on phones can lead to squinting, this, in turn, can lead to deep wrinkles around your eyes. The best thing to do is to increase your font size instead of squinting. Also, adjust the brightness of your skin so that you can read with ease.
17. It might be killing your sperm
All cell phones emit electromagnetic radiation which is very dangerous to the body. Scientists at the Cleveland clinic did some research and found out that low sperm quality is common in men who spend long hours on their cell phones.
So, they did this experiment by collecting sperm from a dozen men, they kept all at the same temperature and condition and divided the samples into two.
Half were left alone while half were put in front of a cellphone. At the end of the experiment, the doctors noted an 85% increase in the number of free radicals in the sperm sample kept in front of the cellphone.
It is not advisable for men to leave their smartphones in their pockets for a long time, this increases the risk of radiation which increases the activity of free radicals against the sperm. This is known as “ball frying”.
18. Dull Skin and Dark Circles
Phones and electronic devices emit blue light which affects your sleep cycle and prevents the release of melatonin, a natural hormone the brain releases when it’s time to sleep.
If you spend a lot of time on your phone and in front of screens especially at night when it’s time to sleep, you will be causing a lot of damages to your sleep, eyes, and skin.
If you want your skin to glow, you have to put away your smartphone and any electronic device that glow and emit blue light several hours before going to bed.
19. It Could Ruin the Health of your Child
Studies have shown that parents who expose their children to cell phone emission, either while pregnant or at birth are increasing their risks of behavioral problems.
A particular study done on this had almost 100,000 mothers and close to 30,000 children. The results from this kind of study can’t be written off as a coincidence.
The scientists who conducted this study believed that these behavioral defects are caused by cellphone emissions which trigger excess production of melatonin in the body.
This hormone regulates many functions of the body, this, in turn, affects the metabolism of the mother and also tampers with the development of the fetus brain.
Some scientists also insist that radiations from cellphones can disrupt the strands of your DNA. They conducted the experiment using mice and rabbits and they showed DNA mutation after being exposed to cell phone radiation.
When you know the root cause of your problems, you have half of the cure already. You might be battling with some of the skin problems mentioned above and you might know that your phone could be responsible.
Now that you’ve known the ways your phone can damage your health, you will also know what to do to reduce the risks of these health problems.
Sources;
- Lo, W. T., & So, R. H. (2001). Cybersickness in the presence of scene rotational movements along different axes. Applied Ergonomics, 32(1), 1-14.
