A study points out the harmfulness of waves on the memory of children

After several years of evaluating the memory of children using a mobile phone, Swiss researchers believe that a high exposure to the waves emitted by these devices has an impact on the memory of forms.
                

(credit: iStock – praetorianphoto)

It has been some time since we have reservations about the harmful effects of smartphones on the brain of young children. In 2016, researchers at ANSES recognized, for example, that they could indeed have " effects on the cognitive functions of the youngest ". It was about attention, psychomotricity, language, but also memory. It is on this last aspect that the researchers of Swiss TPH (the Swiss Institute for Tropical Medicine and Public Health) have studied. After conducting a survey of 900 Swiss aged 12 to 17, they concluded that the repeated use of the mobile phone could in some cases lead to " a significant decline in the performance of the memory"

These researchers avoid drawing too definitive conclusions, indicating that further studies will be needed to exclude other factors. They also specify that the rate and frequency of exposure to waves that produce measurable effects may be very variable from one subject to another (which is why no data quantifying the adverse effects mentioned is reported). Nevertheless, they indicate that children regularly sticking a mobile phone on their right ear are likely to have their memory impaired. It is – as explained in the newspaper Le Temps Martin Röösli, professor in charge of the study – of the memory of the forms, evaluated during these searches by means of computer tests based on abstract shapes. This memory uses a small part of the right hemisphere of the brain, so right-handed people are more exposed to this risk.

Some precautionary measures

" We followed groups of adolescents over several years, testing them several months apart, and then we developed a model to calculate brain exposure and cumulative dose based on different uses (call, sending text message, browsing the Internet, games …) It was thus possible to measure that it is the calls, holding the phone to the ear, which constitute 80% of the radiation received ", says the researcher to the Swiss newspaper. And the latter to remember that by using the speaker of his phone or a hands-free kit, it is easy to reduce by a factor of 10 exposure to electromagnetic waves during a call, if not more . " It is also necessary to avoid making calls when the connection is bad, because one minute is equivalent to several hours spent on the telephone in normal conditions ," he concludes.