- This raises the question of how mobile technology, typically found in smartphones, affects childhood brain development. This topic has been creating a lot of debate among parents, educators,.
- Radiology Society of North America. Smartphone Addiction Creates Imbalance in Brain.November 2017. Ward AF, Duke K, Gneezy A, Box MW. Brain drain: The mere presence of one's own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity.
- Overuse in cell phones cause trauma in young brains By Martine Vincent What is a cell phone? A cell phone is a divice that lets you make calls and send via text messages from anywhere in the country Despite an impressive number of studies, there is no final answer about whether.
- Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Pdf
- Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Sample
- Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Examples
- Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Example
Write An Essay On Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains, analytical essay sample analytical essay example, ged essay writing rubric, elm tree essay.
Trauma is defined by the way a person reacts to events. So a trauma to one person may not be a trauma to another. And some people can cope with the trauma and move forward quickly. Others, though, may not be able to cope.
It is important to remember that some children might see an event as traumatic even when the adults around them do not. For example, after a house fire, adults are busy working with the insurance company and rebuilding. Children only know that their toys and room – the things that made them feel safe – were destroyed.
Any time a child does not feel safe and protected, the event could be seen as a trauma. Because trauma is defined by the person who experiences it, no single list can include all the causes of trauma for children. The following list, though, will explain some of the more common traumas children face.
Surgery or Serious Illness – The child is in the hospital for a serious illness or surgery.
Accidents – The child has experienced an automobile accident, a serious fall or sports injury, a house fire or other major accident that threatens his or her feelings of safety and security.
Constant and Intense Bullying – The child is bullied by one or more people over a period of time. The bullies could be classmates, teammates, neighbors or others in the child’s life. Bullying can begin as early as preschool.
Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Pdf
Separation from Loved Ones – A child might be separated from loved ones due to military deployment, a divorce, a prison sentence or even removal of a child from home due to an investigation of abuse or neglect.
Natural Disasters – A child is affected by a severe event such as a tornado, hurricane, forest fire, flooding.
Emotional Abuse – A parent or other adult in the household often swears at the child, insults the child or humiliates the child. Emotional abuse might include the adult acting in a way that makes the child afraid that he or she might be hurt physically.
Physical Abuse – A parent or other adult in the household often pushes, grabs, slaps or throws something at the child. Physical abuse can also include hitting a child so hard it leaves marks or causes injuries.
Sexual Abuse – Any sexual activity between an adult and a child. Sexual abuse can also occur between children. This sexual activity can include obscene phone calls, fondling, exposure, pornography, prostitution or rape. Specific legal definitions can be found in the Texas Penal Code.
Neglect – The child does not have enough to eat, has to wear dirty clothes and has no one to protect him or her. Parents might be too drunk or high to take care of the child or take the child to the doctor when needed.
Loss/Abandonment – The child loses a biological parent through divorce, abandonment, death or other reason.
Isolation within the Family – No one in the family appears to love the child or consider the child to be important or special. The family does not look out for each other, feel close or support each other.
Domestic Violence – Domestic violence is a behavior used by one person in a relationship to gain power over or control the other. Abuse includes physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats. This includes any behaviors that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure or wound someone.
Community Violence – A child either is hurt by violence or witnesses it. Sometimes a child only needs to hear about violence to experience trauma.
Substance Abuse – Someone in the child’s household abuses alcohol, street drugs or prescription drugs.
Mental Illness – Someone in the child’s household is depressed, has another mental illness and/or has attempted suicide.
Terrorism – A child either experiences or hears about terrorism, especially when it happens in a place the child believes should be safe. The child could experience even more traumatic stress if there are children among those who are injured or killed.
Flight from Home as a Refugee – A child has been uprooted from home, often after experiencing violence or intense fear of harm.
Science
Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Sample
Ever since the mobile phone entered our lives in the new millenium, anxieties about its ill effects have abounded. But what do we actually know about the health risks of mobile phones?
The science on smartphones is far from settled. Brain cancer, nerve damage, and various tumors have all been touted as potential negative consequences of regular mobile phone use.
While no solid evidence has been found to prove it's dangerous, this doesn't mean there is no cause for concern.
What about radiation?
A lot of the concern around the health and safety risks of mobile phones centres on the radiation emitted. Mobile phones release radiofrequency energy, or radio waves, that can be absorbed by bodily tissues. In the past, studies have linked heavy mobile phone use to certain brain tumors.
But according to Martin Röösli, head of the Environmental Exposures and Health Unit at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the type of radiation emitted by a mobile phone is nothing to be alarmed about.
It is a very low energy radio frequency radiation – the same found in TV and radio signals. 'It's a non-ionizing radiation, so it's not radioactive or x-ray,' Röösli told DW. 'No direct DNA damage can happen with this type of radiation. It's impossible.'
As for the link between this kind of radiation and cancer, Röösli says he 'does not see such indications.' Often these studies are 'retrospective” and rely on people remembering their phone use, which people with tumors tend to over-report, Röösli told DW.
'We haven't seen an increase in cancer rates in the last two decades, which you would certainly expect if there was a major risk in mobile phone use,' he added.
Likewise, Frank de Vocht, reader in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Bristol, told DW it's unlikely the dangers of mobile phones have simply gone under the radar.
'If the use of mobile phones would increase the risk of something significantly like, say, cancer, this would have been picked up much more clearly with the scientific methods we have now; for example how the risks of tobacco smoking on lung cancer are straightforward to pick up.'
Wait, there's more
But that doesn't mean mobile phone radiation has no effect on the brain at all. Previous research has found evidence that it can change our brainwaves. And now, a new study co-authored by Röösli has found a link between mobile phone use and adverse effects on young people's memory retention.
Swiss researchers studied 700 adolescents aged between 12 and 17; tracking their phone habits and getting them to complete memory tests. Over the course of a year participants had to fill out a questionnaire about their mobile phone habits, as well as answer questions about their psychological and physical health.
They then completed a series of computerized cognitive tests. Röösli said a unique feature of the study was the use of phone user data from mobile phone operators. That meant for every call made by the participants, the researchers 'knew on which network it took place and how long it lasted.'
The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that one year's worth of exposure to mobile phone radiation could have a negative effect on the development of memory performance in specific brain regions in adolescents. Here ‘exposure' almost exclusively refers to phone calls.
You can use loudspeaker or headphones if you're worried about radiation effects on your brain
Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Examples
'80 percent of the absorbed radiation comes from holding the phone to the head,' Röösli noted. Interestingly, they found the brain's memory function was more vulnerable to the negative impact of radiation when the phone was held to the right hand side of the head. That's where the areas of the brain related to memory are located.
'Basically what we saw was the higher the absorption of radiation [by the brain] the more likely the development of memory in one year wasn't as good as those who didn't absorb as much,' Röösli told DW. The researchers also emphasised that more research needs to be done to rule out other factors, including puberty, which could impact both mobile phone use and cognition.
As for other smartphone uses – sending text messages, taking photos, using apps –these involved 'almost no [radiation] exposure to the brain.'
Should we change our behavior?
Overuse Of Cell Phones Causes Trauma In Young Brains Essay Example
Despite the negative effects they did notice, Röösli described these as 'very subtle.' But if you are concerned, the scientist points out that the radiation effect 'can be easily minimised' by taking calls on the left side of your head, or using loudspeaker or headphones – 'especially when the network quality is low.'
'This study shows that although there is probably an effect - on memory here - it is relatively small,' De Vocht told DW. 'In my opinion the most important lesson from all these studies is that the use of mobile phones is not extremely dangerous, despite what some people may say.'
What both Röösli and De Vocht are concerned about, however, is not the potential biological effects of mobile phone use, but the behavioral changes seen in heavy mobile phone users. According to them, any percievable impacts from mobile phone radiation are far less pertinent than those that change the way people behave.
'There is convincing evidence that what resembles an ‘addiction to mobile phones' negatively effects social interaction, mental health and wellbeing,' De Vocht said.
In 2015, Röösli co-authored a study that found adolescents who use their phones a lot – particularly after 'lights out' – have disrupted sleeping patterns, and are 'a lot more tired.' It's this kind of research he thinks is 'much more relevant from a public health perspective' when considering the health risks of mobile phone usage.
'That has nothing to do with radiation, it's about behaviour.' Ultimately, Röösli said if radiation is having an effect on mobile phone users, 'it's not the big thing, at least at this point.'