After the impact of mobile phone signals on the brain, scientists are studying our favorite companion’s effect on mental health, and the first reports paint a not so rosy picture.

New research suggests excessive use of mobile phones can hinder sleep, trigger fatigue and stress and cause mental problems like depression and lack of concentration. […]

The correlation between phone use and mental state was shown by a study published in the Korean Journal of Epidemiology in 2005 and conducted by a team led by Prof. Kim Dong-hyun […]. The team studied 501 high school students in four groups according to their cell phone use. Those who used them the least scored below 35 points on depression, while those who used the most scored above 51. The latter group also scored over 61 in terms of impulsive behavior. “We can’t generalize that cell phone use causes depression or impulsive behavior, but at least we proved there’s a connection,” Kim said.

Full article on Chosun (Korea’s biggest daily newspaper)

When I read these studies I sometimes feel like Steve Rubel who wonders if wireless radios could become the next tobacco… Are mobile phones really the largest biological experiment ever?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 3:26 pm and is filed under environment, technology, business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.