Radiation from smartphones could be leaving teenagers with short-term memory loss, a top scientist has warned.
Just one year’s worth of exposure can be enough to damage the part of the brain that interprets images and shapes — and right-handed teens are worse affected.
Swiss radiation expert Martin Röösli studied the phone habits of 700 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, before making them do memory tests.
The study found a link between poor memory performance and exposure to RG-EMF radiation. The findings were published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
It also claims sending text messages, playing mobile games and even browsing the internet can have an impact and that right-handed teens are more vulnerable to the radiation’s effects.
He wrote: “This may suggest that indeed RF-EMF absorbed by the brain is responsible for the observed associations,” Röösli said in a statement.
“Potential risks to the brain can be minimized by using headphones or the loudspeaker while calling, in particular when network quality is low and the mobile phone is functioning at maximum power. It is not yet clear how RF-EMF could potentially affect brain processes or how relevant our findings are in the long-term.”
“For instance, the study results could have been affected by puberty, which affects both mobile phone use and the participant’s cognitive and behavioral state.”
Participants were told to complete a questionnaire assessing their mobile phone and media use, as well as their psychological and physical health.
They then had to sit through a series of computerized cognitive tests.
Then, they filled out a time-activity app on a smartphone while carrying a GPS for three days.
In 2016, a similar study found a link between the radiation and pain response.