6,486 Studies Reviewed. 85.2% of Original Studies Found Biological Effects. The Evidence is Clear.
Shield Your Body
Symptoms & Sensitivity

The relationship between adolescents' well-being and their wireless phone use: a cross-sectional study

Bioeffects Seen

Redmayne M, Smith E, and Abramson MJ · 2013

View Original Abstract
Share:

Higher numbers of cellphone and cordless phone calls were linked to more headaches, wired headsets to tinnitus, wireless headsets to headache, depressed mood and night waking, and being woken by a cellphone to daytime tiredness.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

More frequent cellphone and cordless phone calls were associated with higher odds of headaches, wired headsets with tinnitus, wireless headsets with headache, feeling down or depressed, and waking at night, and being woken by a cellphone at night was strongly linked to daytime tiredness. The study reported that 36% of tested associations were statistically significant, more than the 5% expected by chance, and several showed dose-dependent patterns.

Why This Matters

Having WiFi at home was associated with a lower likelihood of waking nightly. The authors recommended limiting daily cellphone and cordless phone use to under 15 minutes and using a speaker-phone for longer calls, as well as parental steps to stop children being woken by their phones.

Study Details

The exposure of young people to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) has increased rapidly in recent years with their increased use of cellphones and use of cordless phones and WiFi. We sought to ascertain associations between New Zealand early-adolescents’ subjective well-being and self-reported use of, or exposure to, wireless telephone and internet technology.

In this cross-sectional survey, participants completed questionnaires in class about their cellphone...

The number and duration of cellphone and cordless phone calls were associated with increased risk of...

There were more statistically significant associations (36%) than could be expected by chance (5%). Several were dose-dependent relationships. To safeguard young people’s well-being, we suggest limiting their use of cellphones and cordless phones to less than 15 minutes daily, and employing a speaker-phone device for longer daily use. We recommend parental measures are taken to prevent young people being woken by their cellphones.

Cite This Study
Redmayne M, Smith E, and Abramson MJ (2013). The relationship between adolescents' well-being and their wireless phone use: a cross-sectional study Environmental Health 12(1):90, 2013.
Show BibTeX
@article{m_2013_the_relationship_between_adolescents_1527,
  author = {Redmayne M and Smith E and and Abramson MJ},
  title = {The relationship between adolescents' well-being and their wireless phone use: a cross-sectional study},
  year = {2013},
  doi = {10.1186/1476-069X-12-90},
  url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1476-069X-12-90},
}
DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-90

Cited By (78 papers)

View all 78 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

The researchers used a cross-sectional survey with classroom and parental questionnaires, analysing data by ordinal logistic regression.
More frequent cellphone and cordless calls were linked to headaches; wired headsets to tinnitus; wireless headsets to headache, depressed mood, and night waking; and being woken by a cellphone at night to daytime tiredness.
Adolescents with WiFi at home were less likely to wake nightly.
36% of the tested associations were statistically significant, exceeding the 5% expected by chance.
They suggested limiting cellphone and cordless phone use to less than 15 minutes daily, using a speaker-phone for longer use, and parental measures to prevent children being woken by their phones.