By Michael Lozzi
Since Steve Jobs’ announcement and subsequent release of the iPhone in the summer of 2007, smartphone technology has evolved immensely. Smartphones have revolutionized the world in which we live in and become an integral part of society as a whole. Unbeknownst to many, these technological capabilities and progressions also come with unsuspecting dangers like long-term eye damage from over exposure to blue light emissions from smartphones and spinal damage from staring down at devices’ multiple hours per day with poor posture. Greater public awareness and change around smartphones is needed to protect our health.
In jurisdictions across the country, laws have emerged about using cellphones, particularly when driving. This is an area in which state legislatures have made a priority to reduce drivers being distracted by their cellphones and enable drivers to properly focus while operating a vehicle. Many states have either banned cellphone use by drivers, banned text messaging while driving, or only allowed the use of hands-free devices. These laws are an effective way to promote safety and protect the well-being of other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
While lawmakers have helped to limit phone use while operating a vehicle, there are still dangers to our health from the overuse of phones. Beyond the research supporting the negative impact phones and social media use have on mental health, there are also physical impairments. The two major effects in particular are, damage to the eyes from strain and long-term exposure to blue light emissions, as well as poorer health outcomes related to bad posture associated with excessive phone use. Do the benefits of smartphones outweigh their harmful effects?
Damage to the Eyes from Strain and Long-term Exposure to Blue Light Emissions from Smartphones
Blue light has short wavelengths and more energy. This form of light can have a profound effect on the eyes when exposed over a prolonged time. Main sources of blue light in our daily lives include: smartphones, computer, and tablet screens. This exposure can be harmful when viewed in close proximity to one’s eyes, when individuals view their screens close to their faces. The larger amount of time spent looking directly at these screens can also be harmful. Studies reveal that long term exposure strains the eyes which can cause short term problems like irritation and pain. There can be more severe and lasting problems from eye strain such as damage to the retina, resulting in degeneration of the eyes at a faster rate than normal. Another study revealed that blue lights damage the retinal cells causing irreversible damage.
The best way to prevent such long-term damage is to minimize the amount of time that one views the screen that produces blue light. Take breaks from staring at screens. Due to the technology focused world in which we live, this is a difficult task. When someone is not using their cellphone, they are commonly on a computer at work or at school. Smartphones have endless applications, like sending a text message, searching the internet for the score of a sports game, or posting a picture on Facebook or Instagram in a matter of seconds. The possibilities are endless, thus taking a break from one activity does not always translate to taking a break from looking at the screen of one’s phone. Another way to help prevent exposure to blue lights is by wearing tinted computer glasses that reduce the blue light capable of reaching the eyes. These glasses are gaining in popularity, and many companies are marketing them. A quick Google search will reveal varieties from which to choose.
Your Phone and Your Posture
The irreversible damage caused by blue light exposure is just one of the many effects of daily and long-term use of smartphones. Another problem is poor ergonomics. Spinal issues, including severe neck and low back pain, are rising and can be related to the continuous and repetitive staring down at one’s phone to view or type while using one’s device. The constant contact with one’s phone results in people looking down at their phone to use it. Such repetition can be severely damaging to people’s spines in particular. The angle at which people hold their head combined with the weight of a human head causes the damage. This puts great stress on the spine and results in serious health issues. The more of an angle at which one leans their neck, the greater the weight felt by the human head. This continuous stress can have long-term effects on the nervous system and result in its degeneration. One major way to prevent this spinal damage is to take breaks away from the phone and to be aware of proper posture. Furthermore, going to see a licensed chiropractor can be beneficial as well.
Although permanent damage to one’s eyes and nervous system results from long-term, continuous exposure to daily phone use, these are only two of the many effects of heavy use of one’s smartphone. Based on the suggestions of emerging studies in this area, regulations and reforms are needed to improve the safety and well-being of the public. In today’s world, it is virtually impossible to go through a day without looking at a smartphone, tablet or laptop monitor. Consequently, change is needed to damages caused by heavy use of these devices. One particularly significant step would require developers of these devices to develop new screens that remove the blue light. This would put pressure on the manufacturers and designers to sell phones without blue light. If finding an alternative way of removing and replacing blue light is too difficult, developers should work to put blue light filters into the phones themselves. This may be an easier and highly feasible solution, as the technology already exists to have these filters in glasses. This same technology can be used to force companies to regulate the blue light transmitted by their devices.
Another particular problem is how early blue light exposure starts in children, as they begin to use these devices at such an early age. Unlike any other generation, these children are the first to be exposed to smartphones and other devices that emit blue lights from the moment they are born. You see children that are watching YouTube videos and able to navigate an iPhone before they can even speak. The effects of such exposure at such a young age may have serious physical consequences as previously mentioned. This generation is experiencing this technology from the moment they are born, and exposure to these blue lights while they are still developing could potentially have even more damaging effects than on adults whose exposure started later in life.
As there are state laws against texting and talking while driving, there is a reasonable argument to restrict the age of when children should be able to use a phone. As we learn more about the short-term and long-term, psychological and physical effects of smartphones, tablets, and monitors on people, we will better understand the developmental delays and irreversible damage we are allowing to happen by letting children use devices too often and too early. A drastic step could be taken to set a minimum age on when smartphones can be used by minors. Such limits may be hard to enforce, but penalties could be imposed on companies that sell the products to minors or parental fines for allowing their children to use these dangerous devices until they are old enough to make their own determination. An easier way to limit children’s exposure to technology, is through school regulations. For example, there could be a restricted amount of technological exposure in elementary school. Educating children and their families is the best means of bringing greater awareness to the detrimental problems of overuse and exposure to these devices.
The smartphone truly is an integral part of daily life, from checking your email first thing in the morning, to daily texting, looking at social media, to watching Netflix prior to going to sleep. The public must become aware that there are dangers in these repetitive behaviors. As each day passes, the public is suffering the consequences whether they are aware of it or not. Time truly is of the essence to bring greater awareness to the harms of excessive smartphone use from blue light exposure and from poor ergonomics.
Michael Lozzi is a 2L staff member on the Journal of Health and Biomedical Law. Prior to Suffolk, Michael earned a degree in Government and Legal studies from Bowdoin College. Michael currently works for Boston Children’s Hospital in the Compliance Department as a Conflict of Interest Associate. He is interested in healthcare law, biomedical law, and government relations.
Resources
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/phone-may-be-damaging-your-eyes#1
https://www.preventblindness.org/blue-light-and-your-eyes
http://advancingyourhealth.org/orthopedics/2015/07/21/how-cell-phone-use-impacts-our-neck-over-time/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHBL or Suffolk University Law School.