tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/cellphone-16597/articlesCellphone – The Conversation2021-09-07T14:33:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1663292021-09-07T14:33:10Z2021-09-07T14:33:10ZDoes being away from your smartphone cause you anxiety? The fact that it makes you available 24/7 could be the reason<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418750/original/file-20210831-15-1g386l8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C5005%2C3158&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The existence of smartphones has modified social and work expectations so that 24-hour availability is now often considered the norm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Through social distancing mandates, lockdown measures and restrictions on gatherings and services, the pandemic has brought about widespread changes to how modern societies function. And everyone has become more reliant on smartphones. </p>
<p>One study found <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1106607/device-usage-coronavirus-worldwide-by-country/">smartphone use increased by 70 per cent during the first few months of the pandemic</a>. And <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8077250/cell-phone-use-covid-19-pandemic/">a recent Canadian survey</a> found more than 40 per cent of respondents are spending even more time on their phones this year. The reliance on digital technologies, including smartphones, has increased tremendously because of the need to do everything from home — working, studying, staying connected, reading the news and interacting with services, like food and grocery delivery. </p>
<p>The relationships we form with smartphones have recently become of interest to researchers, especially the potential negative impacts when it comes to overuse and attachment. </p>
<p>One relationship in particular concerns the anxiety felt when people are unable to use or be in contact with their smartphones, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0266666915599025">known as nomophobia</a>. Nomophobia, or no-mobile phobia, is thought to be a product of the intense attachments to our devices, and <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2Fjfmpc.jfmpc_71_19">is believed to be strongest among people who use their phone the most</a>, like teens and young adults. </p>
<p>Some researchers have gone so far as to argue that <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2FPRBM.S41386">nomophobia should be introduced into the DSM-V</a>(<a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm">the manual for diagnosing psychiatric illnesses</a>), or be treated through <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2FPRBM.S41386">cognitive behavioural therapy and other psychological and pharmaceutical treatments</a>. But these claims are rooted in a de-contextualized idea of nomophobia, which ignores many real-life interactions that necessitate the use of smartphones.</p>
<h2>Smartphones make us accessible 24/7</h2>
<p>As digital health researchers who have conducted (and are currently conducting) several studies examining <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1800712">problematic smartphone use in post-secondary students</a>, we argue that treating nomophobia as a mental illness or a medical condition in need of treatment is flawed and potentially harmful. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman sitting at laptop, wearing glasses looks at cellphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418749/original/file-20210831-19-115sz48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smartphones make us readily available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bruce Mars/Unsplash)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101719">recently published study</a>, we suggest that nomophobia, or the anxiety associated with not being able to access one’s smartphone, has less to do with how often one uses their phone and more to do with the context in which the phone is used. The existence of smartphones has modified social and work expectations so that 24-hour availability is now often considered the norm. </p>
<p>There’s no question that smartphones have become an important and arguably irreplaceable part of everyday life. Just as the automobile became irreplaceable because of urban sprawl that prioritized roads over walkways, the smartphone has become irreversibly embedded into our globalized and fast-paced lives. Unlike the automobile, which is typically used for a single function, smartphones can be used in many ways — some which are beneficial to the user. </p>
<h2>Anxiety comes from the implied demands</h2>
<p>During the pandemic, smartphones enabled remote grocery pick-up and food delivery, facilitated friend and family check-ins and allowed services like banking and doctor’s appointments to continue. This kind of smartphone use demonstrates clear utility and convenience. </p>
<p>Comparatively, some aspects of smartphone use are products of larger social and occupational norms. Modern work demands such as promptly answering e-mails and attending calls have been largely supported by smartphone functions and apps (like email, video conferencing, modifying documents). This means many employers expect their workers to be available beyond 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the anxiety associated with smartphones (or lack thereof) stems more from these implied demands than the device itself. </p>
<p>Similar anxieties stemming from “smartphone use” have been associated with social media consumption. Specifically, research (including our own) has documented that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/cin.0000000000000458">more time you spend on social media apps, the higher the nomophobia</a>. Meaning the anxiety associated with being unable to use your phone stems from how it’s being used rather than the device itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man with hands over keyboard holds his cellphone in his hand. He scrolls through twitter. He's wearing a black longsleeve shirt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418754/original/file-20210831-25-1uadb6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Social media plays a big role in our smartphone use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Charles Deluvio/Unsplash)</span></span>
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<h2>Part of our everyday worlds</h2>
<p>The complicated relationship we have with our phones is clearly demonstrated through how they’re marketed to us, and their features. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2050157918808327">Our phones are positioned as “creative outlets”</a> and are reflections of our self expression through customization and usage. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65JrtwtTOdc">commercial for the iPhone 12</a>, for example, focuses on how it’s the right gadget for everyone regardless of interests and use. The commercial goes so far as to visually suggest that the phone never needs to leave your hand and can perform any function you would need throughout your day. </p>
<p>The addition of features such as Apple or Google Pay, face ID and digital assistants like Siri exemplifies the way in which smartphones are no longer a simple and passive device, but rather a way by which we interact with our everyday worlds. </p>
<p>Smartphones have become an integral technology to the fabric of modern society. The concept of nomophobia oversimplifies both how these devices are used and the potential treatments for this device-related anxiety. Smartphones clearly extend a level of convenience, communication and utility that not only allows us to operate within society but to impose ourselves on it.</p>
<p>We must be critical and consider how and when these devices are helping us, harming us and changing us. The potential harms of treating nomophobia as a clinical condition ignores the complex and various ways we use our smartphones. <em>What</em> we use our devices for and <em>how much</em> we use them are often constrained by external factors, like employer demands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some researchers argue that nomophobia, or no mobile phobia, should be treated through psychological and pharmaceutical treatments. But these claims ignore real-life interactions.Wuyou Sui, Postdoctoral fellow, Behavioural Medicine Lab, School of Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education, University of VictoriaAnna Sui, PhD Candidate, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040392018-10-02T10:06:51Z2018-10-02T10:06:51ZKids with cellphones more likely to be bullies – or get bullied. Here are 6 tips for parents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238457/original/file-20180928-48665-8wqs87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cellphones carry certain risks for elementary school students.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pupils-using-mobile-phone-elementary-school-1088478797?src=vi7mDrXCq1nv_16ZMpqFXg-1-6">Rido/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/la-relacion-entre-el-acoso-escolar-y-el-uso-de-telefonos-moviles-en-el-colegio-seis-consejos-para-evitarlo-104460"><em>Leer en español</em></a>.</p>
<p>Each year, <a href="http://www.aappublications.org/news/2017/09/15/NCECellPhone091817">more parents</a> send their young child to elementary school equipped with a smartphone.</p>
<p>For instance, the percentage of third-graders who reported having their own cellphone more than doubled from 19 percent <a href="https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=marc_reports">in 2013</a> to 45 percent <a href="https://www.healio.com/pediatrics/developmental-behavioral-medicine/news/online/%7B45514b95-fe30-455b-801f-3567720f8de3%7D/cell-phone-ownership-linked-to-cyberbullying-in-younger-schoolchildren">in 2017</a>. Similar increases took place for fourth-graders and fifth-graders. About half of fourth-graders and 70 percent of fifth-graders went to school with a phone in 2017.</p>
<p>Parents <a href="https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/children-and-cell-phones#1">often cite</a> the ability to easily reach their child as the major advantage of giving them a device, which they view as a safety issue. “Stranger danger” and sexual predators are often the first risks that occur to parents. Some public schools are <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-schools-texting-social-media-teacher-student-policy-20180821-story.html">adopting policies</a> that limit personal contact between students and teachers. But bullying and cyberbullying are more common concerns, and in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RzBpB7MAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my 2017 research</a>, I found that that giving a young child a cellphone increases the likelihood that the child will either become a victim of bullying or a bully themselves. This <a href="http://www.aappublications.org/news/2017/09/15/NCECellPhone091817">study of approximately 4,500 elementary school children</a> in the U.S. found that having a cellphone in elementary school was associated with being involved with both bullying and cyberbullying, both as a bully and as a bully/victim. A “bully/victim” is a child who is, at different times, both a bully and a victim of bullying.</p>
<p>The research found that while more than half of third-grade bullies carried cellphones, only 35 percent of children who were uninvolved in bullying did. Even more dramatically, three-quarters of third-grade cyberbullies carried cellphones, compared to only 37 percent of third-graders uninvolved in cyberbullying. Results were similar, but a little weaker, for fourth- and fifth-graders. </p>
<p>It may be that results were strongest among the youngest children because of their relatively more limited ability to understand how communications works in a digital setting. For example, in my field work at the <a href="http://www.marccenter.org">Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center</a>, I’ve learned that teenagers are wary of emotions escalating quickly online, realizing that such emotions can lead to fights and bullying. However, younger children typically haven’t yet learned this lesson. It was this gulf that motivated me, with a colleague, to create <a href="https://eenglander.wixsite.com/smartkidsguide">a children’s guide</a> to getting their first cellphone. </p>
<p>Kids can learn to use cellphones safely, and there are practical steps that parents can take to minimize their young child’s odds of involvement in bullying and cyberbullying, along with cellphone practices that can help ensure the overall well-being of their child. </p>
<p>Here are a few tips:</p>
<h2>1. Establish ownership</h2>
<p>The phone is not your child’s – it’s yours. Thus, you always have the right to look at it. By checking your child’s phone, you may detect messages or posts that can suggest involvement in bullying or cyberbullying. A 2012 MacAfee study found that half of kids <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/98269655/The-Digital-Divide-How-the-Online-Behavior-of-Teens-is-Getting-Past-Parents">changed their online behavior</a> if they believed their parents were checking. </p>
<h2>2. Take cellphones out of dinnertime</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238759/original/file-20181001-195256-1hl8y9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family dinnertime has been shown to protect kids against bullying.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multigeneration-family-sitting-around-table-eating-184851899?src=PdSPDGYOvlEIPTOddNKcBw-9-94">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>A 2014 study from researchers at McGill University found that <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/family-dinners-and-cyberbullying_n_5755250">family dinners helped protect kids from bullying</a>. Dinnertime can be a time to connect emotionally, even when no conversations of deep importance take place. It can also be a time to discuss challenges and difficulties, and to debate solutions and strategies, with input from the people who love you. Unfortunately, family dinners can be easily interrupted by notifications or messaging from cellphones. For that reason, a “no devices” rule at the dinner table can help promote family connections that are protective against bullying. </p>
<h2>3. Limit use during homework</h2>
<p>Listening to music can be OK, but watching videos and TV shows or playing games shouldn’t happen while homework is being completed. Studies that look at multi-tasking agree that it <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2009/08/24/multitask-research-study-082409/">degrades memory</a>, learning and cognitive performance. </p>
<h2>4. Don’t allow use before bedtime</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238760/original/file-20181001-195260-djibg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Looking at a cellphone just before bed can disrupt sleep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/digital-modern-device-addiction-gadget-night-1107513398?src=C4XUUopDnJZYx-JoPwUEuw-1-53">kryvoshapka/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>It’s been well documented that bright screens right before bed can <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/why-electronics-may-stimulate-you-bed">delay or interrupt sleep patterns</a>. Sleep problems, in turn, have been <a href="https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/the-school-bully-is-sleepy/">linked to becoming involved in bullying</a>. To promote healthy sleep and reduce the odds of bullying, help your child practice good sleep preparation habits by putting away digital devices an hour before bedtime. If they want to read from their device, use an app that has a UVB filter or dim and “flip” the screen to a black background.</p>
<p>To help your child stay asleep, devices should be kept outside the bedroom overnight. Even if your child intends to sleep, a buzzing sound or vibration can wake him or her up. It can represent a strong temptation to send messages, chat or play games.</p>
<h2>5. Set a good example as a driver</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238761/original/file-20181001-195256-56usx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Texting is a leading cause of distracted driving.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-woman-using-her-smartphone-while-354899549?src=hi7Nw-0E1dZT64G-PwHP0A-2-22">Ekaterina Pokrovsky/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Encouraging kids to put down the phone when they are in a car can literally be a lifesaving habit that can begin in elementary school. A review of statistics noted that cellphone use is the <a href="https://www.teensafe.com/distracted-driving/100-distracted-driving-facts-and-statistics-2018/">second-leading cause of distracted driving</a>. Each day, <a href="https://www.teensafe.com/distracted-driving/100-distracted-driving-facts-and-statistics-2018/">11 teenagers are killed</a> as a result of texting and driving. To lessen the risks of this happening in the future, parents can teach young children to not use their device in the front seat of the car; it can be a place to talk, instead of a place to text.</p>
<h2>6. Instill responsibility</h2>
<p>Carrying a cellphone isn’t a right – it’s a privilege. As a parent, encourage responsible cellphone use by linking digital privileges with responsibilities. Show children how to budget internet time with apps like <a href="https://www.unglue.com/">unGlue</a>. Teach your kids that discussing social problems is part of being mature enough to carry a cellphone. And consider having your kids pitch in around the house to “earn” their digital privileges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104039/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Englander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While many parents believe equipping their young child with a cellphone is a matter of safety, research shows the practice comes with certain risks.Elizabeth Englander, Professor of Psychology, and the Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC), Bridgewater State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/883722017-11-30T08:27:18Z2017-11-30T08:27:18ZOur exposure to electromagnetic waves: beware of commonly held beliefs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196994/original/file-20171129-12035-1lwxr6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A base station or GSM relay antenna on a roof in Paris.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pyb/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123575/original/image-20160523-11010-17x91o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em>This article is published in partnership with “La Tête au carré”, the daily radio show on France Inter dedicated to the popularisation of science, presented and produced by Mathieu Vidard. The author of this text, Joe Wiart, discussed his research on the show broadcast on April 28, 2017 accompanied by Aline Richard, Science and Technology Editor for The Conversation France.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>For over 10 years, controlling exposure to electromagnetic waves and to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_frequency">radio frequencies</a> in particular has fuelled many debates, which have often been quite heated. An analysis of reports and scientific publications devoted to this topic shows that researchers are mainly studying the possible impact of mobile phones on our health. At the same time, according to what has been published in the media, the public is mainly concerned about base stations. Nevertheless, mobile phones and wireless communication systems in general are widely used and have dramatically changed how people around the world communicate and work.</p>
<p>Globally, the number of mobile phone users now exceeds 5 billion. And according to the findings of an Insee study, the percentage of individuals aged 18-25 in France who own a mobile phone is 100%! It must be noted that the use of this method of communication is far from being limited to simple phone calls – by 2020 global mobile data traffic is expected to represent four times the overall Internet traffic of 2005. In France, according to the French regulatory authority for electronic and postal communications (<a href="http://www.arcep.fr/index.php?id=13287">ARCEP</a>), over 7% of the population connected to the Internet exclusively via smartphones in 2016. And the skyrocketing use of connected devices will undoubtedly accentuate this trend.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165258/original/image-20170413-25901-vdj0wr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smartphone zombies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ccmsharma2/Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The differences in perceptions of the risks associated with mobile phones and base stations can be explained in part by the fact that the two are not seen as being related. Moreover, while exposure to electromagnetic waves is considered to be “voluntary” for mobile phones, individuals are often said to be “subjected” to waves emitted by base stations. This helps explains why, despite the widespread use of mobiles and connected devices, the deployment of base stations remains a hotly debated issue, often focusing on health impacts.</p>
<p>In practice, national standards for limiting exposure to electromagnetic waves are based on the recommendations of the <a href="http://www.icnirp.org/">International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection</a> (ICNIRP) and on scientific expertise. A number of studies have been carried out on the potential effects of electromagnetic waves on our health. Of course, research is still being conducted in order to keep pace with the constant advancements in wireless technology and its many uses. This research is even more important since radio frequencies from mobile telephones have now been classified as “possibly carcinogenic for humans” (group 2B) following a review conducted by the <a href="https://www.iarc.fr/indexfr.php">International Agency for Research on Cancer</a>.</p>
<p>Given the great and ever-growing number of young people who use smartphones and other mobile devices, this heightened vigilance is essential. In France the National Environmental and Occupational Health Research Programme (PNREST) of the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses) is responsible for monitoring the situation. And to address public concerns about base stations (of which there are 50,000 located throughout France), many municipalities have discussed charters to regulate where they may be located. Cities such as Paris, which, striving to set an example for France and major European cities, signed such a charter as of 2003, are officially limiting exposure from base stations through a signed agreement with France’s three major operators.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165259/original/image-20170413-25888-z942rx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hillside in Miramont, Hautes Pyrenees, France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Florent Pécassou/Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This charter was updated in 2012 and was further discussed at the Paris Council in March, in keeping with the <a href="https://www.anfr.fr/controle-des-frequences/exposition-du-public-aux-ondes/le-role-des-maires/la-loi-abeille/">Abeille law</a>, which was proposed to the National Assembly in 2013 and passed in February 2015, focusing on limiting the exposure to electromagnetic fields. Yet it is important to note that this initiative, like so many others, concerns only base stations despite the fact that exposure to electromagnetic waves and radio frequencies comes from many other sources. By focusing exclusively on these base stations, the problem is only partially resolved. Exposure from mobile phones for users or their neighbours must also be taken into consideration, along with other sources.</p>
<p>In practice, the portion of exposure to electromagnetic waves which is linked to base stations is far from representing the majority of overall exposure. As many studies have demonstrated, exposure from mobile phones is much more significant. Fortunately, the deployment of 4G, followed by 5G, will not only improve speed but will also contribute to significantly reducing the power radiated by mobile phones. Small cell network architecture with small antennas supplementing larger ones will also help limit radiated power. It is important to study solutions resulting in lower exposure to radio frequencies at different levels, from radio devices to network architecture or management and provision of services. This is precisely what the partners in the <a href="http://www.lexnet.fr/projet-presentation.html">LEXNET</a> European project set about doing in 2012, with the goal of cutting public exposure to electromagnetic fields and radio frequency in half.</p>
<p>In the near future, fifth-generation networks will use several frequency bands and various architectures in a dynamic fashion, enabling them to handle both increased speed and the proliferation of connected devices. There will be no choice but to effectively consider the network-terminal relationship as a duo, rather than treating the two as separate elements. This new paradigm has become a key priority for researchers, industry players and public authorities alike. And from this perspective, the latest discussions about the location of base stations and renewing the Paris charter prove to be emblematic.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was translated from the French by <a href="https://blogrecherche.wp.imt.fr/en/2017/07/11/electromagnetic-waves-popular-belief/">I'MTech</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Wiart has received financing from ANSES, ANFr, ANR and Europe to conduct studies on evaluating the impact of exposure to radio-frequency signals. </span></em></p>Is it necessary to control exposure to electromagnetic waves by limiting the number of relay antennas? Yes, but that’s not the only thing.Joe Wiart, Titulaire de la Chaire C2M de l'institut Mines Telecom, Télécom Paris – Institut Mines-TélécomLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/840412017-09-25T10:22:45Z2017-09-25T10:22:45Z3 reasons why we are addicted to smartphones<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187208/original/file-20170922-11625-10vcujn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What attaches us so deeply to our phones?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/60035031@N06/15991371957/in/photolist-qn6XKB-8YBd9w-9ixb13-5Yqrzf-pNxGr4-5FnHV7-5G28Jq-7hKbWd-eC2bGz-bLYWzi-5EYxDX-9nqaBE-butXsS-6PLfme-6PT1wS-aw5uyi-6Rfy4r-bpbPXM-6LfJgE-6vo4eT-c9EuUJ-TZLYYN-auXatY-mhKizR-91qBpn-7FsdJU-amC5EX-5QNgQm-6HnGTi-6u47m1-4kDE2a-5MrB3n-3PsEws-79zzZW-9TGfx6-9qVfBz-9witBV-asd5cw-4kpp23-4zR5N4-6CxqVr-cQwv4j-oVfE92-7sd47R-5wutRb-SY6uUh-UxxTuz-4s2FrG-SLVPeU-6BKda8">Al Case</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Apple recently announced the <a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2017/">launch of its iPhone 8 and iPhone X</a>, which come with sleek, new features. Apple also hopes to start a new community around the iPhones. Ahead of the launch, Angela Ahrendts, head of retail at Apple, said their stores will be called <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/angela-ahrendts-apple-svp-of-retail-redesign-today-at-apple/">“Town Squares,”</a> and would double as public spaces, complete with outdoor plazas, indoor forums and boardrooms. </p>
<p>The much-anticipated product launch was followed by millions who watched the event via livestream and on internet forums, blogs and in the news media.</p>
<p>I, too, was among them.</p>
<p>So, what draws people to these phones? Surely, it is not just the groundbreaking design or the connection with a community. As a minister, psychotherapist and scholar studying our relationship with hand-held devices, I believe there is much more going on. </p>
<p>In fact, I’d argue, as I do in my book <a href="http://www.baylorpress.com/Book/507/Growing_Down.html">“Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age,”</a> the phones tap into our basic yearnings as humans. </p>
<p>Here are my three reasons why we love our phones. </p>
<h2>1. Part of an extended self</h2>
<p>Our sense of self is shaped while we are still in the womb. The development of the self, however, <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs379c/archive/2013/suggested_reading_list/supplements/documents/GieddetalNN-99.pdf">accelerates after birth</a>. A newborn, first and foremost, attaches herself to the primary caregiver and later to things – acquiring what has been called an “extended self.”</p>
<p>The leading 20th-century American psychologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-James">William James</a> was among the first to argue for an extended self. In his <a href="http://store.doverpublications.com/0486203816.html">“Principles of Psychology,”</a> James defined the self as “the sum total of all that a man can call his, not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children.” Losing any of this extended self, which could include money or another prized object, as he explained, could lead to a sense of great loss. In early childhood, for example, babies and toddlers cry if they suddenly lose their pacifier or favorite soft toy, objects that become part of their extended selves. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187209/original/file-20170922-11625-26zau6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phones become part of our extended selves?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thenickster/3797377308/in/photolist-6MyxYy-5G28Jq-6BDxAu-7hKbWd-eC2bGz-bLYWzi-5EYxDX-7t9AfQ-9nqaBE-butXsS-6PT1wS-aw5uyi-7LfNct-6MunZx-6Rfy4r-84tdZ5-bpbPXM-qn6XKB-7FsdJU-amC5EX-5QNgQm-6vo4eT-c9EuUJ-6HnGTi-6u47m1-4kDE2a-5MrB3n-TZLYYN-79zzZW-9qVfBz-9witBV-asd5cw-4zR5N4-6CxqVr-cQwv4j-oVfE92-auXatY-awdtzq-5wutRb-6J4KnR-7k7G8x-SY6uUh-8nLQ5C-UxxTuz-hxZmy3-be9LEP-7CuW9N-6ciEyJ-4bSG9i-7YQqpi">Nicki Dugan Pogue</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Phones, I argue, play a similar role. It is not uncommon for me to feel a sudden onset of anxiety should I drop my phone or am unable to find it. In my experience, many individuals feel the same way. It is also reflected in how often many of us check our devices. </p>
<p>Psychologist <a href="http://drlarryrosen.com/about/">Larry Rosen</a> and his colleagues at California State University found that 51 percent of individuals born in the 1980s and 1990s experienced moderate to high levels of anxiety when they were kept from checking in with their devices <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212003172">for more than 15 minutes</a>. Interestingly, the percentage drops slightly – to 42 percent – for those born between 1965 and 1979. </p>
<p>This is primarily because they came into being during a time where hand-held technologies were only beginning to make their entry. For this group, phones became part of their extended self only as late teens or as young adults. </p>
<h2>2. Recalling caring relationships</h2>
<p>When we hold our phones, it reminds us of moments of intimacy – whether from our childhood or from our adult life. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01906">brain chemical dopamine and love hormone oxytocin</a>, which play a role in the addiction “high,” kick in. These chemicals also create a sense of belonging and attachment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187210/original/file-20170922-13425-60o5u2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phone addiction?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mermaidkween/2191430771/in/photolist-4kDE2a-5MrB3n-TZLYYN-79zzZW-9qVfBz-9witBV-asd5cw-4zR5N4-6CxqVr-cQwv4j-oVfE92-auXatY-awdtzq-5wutRb-6J4KnR-7k7G8x-SY6uUh-8nLQ5C-UxxTuz-hxZmy3-be9LEP-7CuW9N-6ciEyJ-4bSG9i-7YQqpi-eatTGf-SLVPeU-bB1Xvc-5RbGeP-6BKda8-9sXSV2-f4bgBN-e1pd28-8tGWFc-bsoLC9-hMw2fb-55E7Lx-61D7sA-9HYPXt-7MkKGy-bK99bc-85VbB3-4Thnu9-6NhXRn-jca6UJ-aJLNxp-nnN6GA-cqJyFU-5HQxKu-bBPPZX">Tiffany Nevin</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Holding our phone has the same effect as when a parent looks lovingly at her child or when two lovers gaze into each other’s eyes. In the <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/12/550428192/apple-unveils-three-new-iphones-but-the-watch-sends-shares-up">words of Apple executive Philip Schiller</a>: The iPhone X “learns who you are.” </p>
<p><a href="http://www.baylorpress.com/Book/507/Growing_Down.html">Theological reflection</a> also supports what we have learned about dopamine and oxytocin. The Judeo-Christian tradition, for example, identifies God as an intimate God who seeks face time and creates caring environments. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=NUmbers+6%3A24-26&version=CEB">Bible, Numbers 6:24-26</a>, we read: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The Lord bless you and protect you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his face to you and grant you peace.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>3. Fulfills need to produce and reproduce</h2>
<p>Anthropologist <a href="http://anthropology.columbia.edu/people/profile/376">Michael Taussig</a> <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Mimesis-and-Alterity-A-Particular-History-of-the-Senses/Taussig/p/book/9780415906876">reminds us</a> that it is in our “second nature to copy, imitate, make models, [and] explore difference” as we try to become a better or different self. </p>
<p>Phones help us do that. We take pictures, manipulate images, join discussions, curate a selfie and reach out to others. By texting back and forth, we weave together a conversation. Through searching, we become knowledgeable (even if we lack wisdom). Thus, we join ancestors who painted on <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X17303760">cave walls</a> and told stories around fires.</p>
<p>It should not come as a surprise then that smartphones use for internet searches is <a href="https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/vni-hyperconnectivity-wp.html">on a rapid rise</a>. This is expected to grow to 75 percent by 2021. We are destined, it seems, to live with our phones in hand. </p>
<h2>Living with technology</h2>
<p>Having said this, sometimes, however, I would argue, we need to show up in person and make a difference. </p>
<p>We can be disappointed if we limit our spaces and relationships to small screens or to “town squares.” We need intimate relationships where we give and receive touch, where we gaze into someone’s eyes. We also need spaces – some will be online – where deep connections can be made, where we can rest, play and discover.</p>
<p>So, as some of us head over to the Town Square to purchase the latest iPhone or venture online, it would be best to remember the <a href="http://www.vqronline.org/essay/technology-history-and-culture-appreciation-melvin-kranzberg">dictum</a> of historian of technology <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/09/us/melvin-kranzberg-78-historian-of-technology.html?mcubz=0">Melvin Kranzberg</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the data on smartphone use for internet use.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84041/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaco J. Hamman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why we love our phones so much might be related to our basic yearnings as human beings, explains a scholar, who is also a pastor.Jaco J. Hamman, Professor of Religion, Psychology and Culture, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717272017-01-23T18:02:27Z2017-01-23T18:02:27ZMobile phones offer a new way for Africa’s students to learn programming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153854/original/image-20170123-8067-im6k7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students could learn how to program with the right applications on their mobile phones.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not easy for Computer Science students at most universities in Africa to practice and develop their programming skills. They have the ability to program, but access to desktop or laptop computers might be a problem. I experienced this first-hand while teaching programming at a Kenyan university.</p>
<p>Most African universities have public computer laboratories, but these tend to be used to teach various classes, hence limiting students’ access. Many institutions may also have very few computers for a large number of students. This means that students might need to access computers outside the classroom in order to practise programming. Yet, most people in developing countries <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/03/19/internet-seen-as-positive-influence-on-education-but-negative-influence-on-morality-in-emerging-and-developing-nations/technology-report-15/">do not</a> own computers at home.</p>
<p>Limited access to PCs aggravates the learning difficulties faced by programming students. This is especially true because programming is best learnt through practice. However, most students own mobile phones. Cell phones are the most <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/04/15/cell-phones-in-africa-communication-lifeline/">widely used</a> devices among students in developing countries – and, indeed, among Africans more generally. </p>
<p>I therefore set out to develop a solution that would enable students to learn programming using mobile phones. The biggest challenge was turning mobile phones into functional programming environments. After all, they aren’t designed with programming in mind. They have small screens and small keypads that impede their use as programming platforms.</p>
<p>So I designed what I called scaffolding – or supporting – techniques that allow for the effective construction of programs on mobile phones using the Java language. These techniques can also address new learners’ needs. <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/16609">The results</a>, taken from my work with 182 students at four universities in South Africa and Kenya, are encouraging.</p>
<h2>Techniques for mobile phones</h2>
<p>The scaffolding techniques I designed can be used on Android platforms. They are specifically aimed at students learning <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/concepts/">Object Oriented Programming</a> using Java.</p>
<p>The technology works by offering three types of scaffolding techniques:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Automatic scaffolding, which are supporting techniques automatically presented on the interface. These include instructions on which buttons to press, error prompts and suggestions to view an example while working on a program. These scaffolding techniques fade away as the student gets more familiar with the application.</p></li>
<li><p>Static scaffolding, which involves supporting techniques that never fade away. I included two such techniques. One presents the layout of a Java program on the main interface, so the student always has a visual representation before interacting with the program. This technique is said particularly to <a href="http://web.media.mit.edu/%7Eedith/publications/1996-persp.taking.pdf">support</a> a new student’s learning. The second static scaffolding technique involves creating the program one part at a time, breaking it into smaller parts. This is an effective way to support the creation of a program on small screen devices like mobile phones.</p></li>
<li><p>User-initiated scaffolding, which are supporting techniques that a student can activate. Examples include hints, examples and tutorials.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A student puts the scaffolding for mobile phones to the test.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Chao Mbogo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I tested these techniques on the students while they constructed Java programs on mobile phones. Their feedback was largely positive and suggested that scaffolding techniques specifically designed for mobile phones and based on students’ needs could support the learning of programming using a mobile phone. </p>
<h2>Findings and challenges</h2>
<p>Desktop programming environments are complex interfaces. Large screens make it possible for students to be exposed to large amounts of information in one sitting. Large screens also mean that students can be given support, in one place, without having to leave the interface. Providing all this functionality and support in one interface doesn’t work well on small screens.</p>
<p>But my research suggests that small screens have some advantages. Students told me that the more simple interface on a small screen helped them to focus on the task at hand. When they had to create a program one step at a time, they didn’t have to grasp a huge amount of information all at once. This may assist their learning in the long run. </p>
<p>Certainly, the study wasn’t perfect. The scaffolding I developed was only for Android platforms, which excludes users from other platforms such as Windows and iOS. And while mobile phones are far more common among students than private desktop or laptop computers, there are some students who do not have and cannot afford even these devices. </p>
<p>My research is not over yet. My next steps will take these problems into account. For example, the techniques I designed will be tested on other programming languages – such as C++ – and on other mobile platforms. I am also keen to investigate the design of such scaffolding for tablets which are becoming more common among African university students.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>The study I’ve described here relates to my PhD, which I was awarded at the University of Cape Town in December 2015. Since then a number of my peers have suggested other areas to explore and improve. From 2017 my programming students at Kenya Methodist University will use the prototype I tested in a longitudinal study. None of them have ever used a mobile phone to program, so this will be a new experience.</p>
<p>For the foreseeable future, African universities and other institutions offering programming subjects will continue to struggle with resources. As long as this situation persists and students’ access to mobile phones and tablets grows, the techniques I’m developing could offer a smart solution that allows the continent to keep producing young programmers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chao Charity Mbogo received funding for her Ph.D. research, related fieldwork and related conference grants from Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), Department of Computer Science at the University of Cape Town, Google, The International Network for Postgraduate Students in the area of ICT4D (IPID), ACM-W, and Schlumberger’s Faculty for the Future fellowship. </span></em></p>Computer programming is best learned through practice, but students in developing economies don’t always have access to desktop or laptop computers. Mobile phones may be the solution.Dr. Chao Mbogho, Researcher and Lecturer of Computer Science, Mentor, Kenya Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/679802017-01-05T01:39:03Z2017-01-05T01:39:03ZAttackers can make it impossible to dial 911<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148322/original/image-20161201-25660-w3qwu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When calling these people, you want to be able to get through.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/911/aboutus.htm">Fairfax County, Virginia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not often that any one of us needs to dial 911, but we know how important it is for it to work when one needs it. It is critical that 911 services always be available – both for the practicality of responding to emergencies, and to give people peace of mind. But a new type of attack has emerged that can <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.02353v1.pdf">knock out 911 access</a> – our research explains how these attacks occur as a result of the system’s <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.02353v1.pdf">vulnerablities</a>. We show these attacks can create extremely serious repercussions for public safety.</p>
<p>In recent years, people have become more aware of a type of cyberattack called “denial-of-service,” in which websites are flooded with traffic – often generated by many computers hijacked by a hacker and acting in concert with each other. This <a href="https://www.akamai.com/us/en/our-thinking/state-of-the-internet-report/global-state-of-the-internet-security-ddos-attack-reports.jsp">happens all the time</a>, and has affected traffic to <a href="http://www.aba.com/tools/function/fraud/pages/distributeddenialofserviceattacks-ddos.aspx">financial institutions</a>, <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/blizzard-hit-with-ddos-disrupting-play-for-gamers/">entertainment companies</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/hackers-attack-european-commission/">government agencies</a> and even <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/10/internet-outage-ddos-dns-dyn/">key internet routing services</a>.</p>
<p>A similar attack is possible on 911 call centers. In October, what appears to be the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/10/teen-arrested-for-iphone-hack-that-threatened-emergency-911-system/">first such attack launched from a smartphone happened in Arizona</a>. An <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/surprise-breaking/2016/10/27/phoenix-meetkumar-desai-arrested-cyberattack-911-system/92847226/">18-year-old hacker was arrested</a> on charges that he conducted a telephone denial-of-service attack on a local 911 service. If we are to prevent this from happening in more places, we need to understand how 911 systems work, and where the weaknesses lie, both in technology and policy.</p>
<h2>Understanding denial of service</h2>
<p>Computer networks have capacity limits – they can handle only so much traffic, so many connections, at one time. If they get overloaded, new connections can’t get through. The same thing happens with phone lines – which are mostly computer network connections anyway.</p>
<p>So if an attacker can manage to tie up all the available connections with malicious traffic, no legitimate information – like regular people browsing a website, or calling 911 in a real emergency – can make it through.</p>
<p>This type of attack is most often done by spreading malware to a great many computers, infecting them so that they can be controlled remotely. Smartphones, which are after all just very small computers, can also be hijacked in this way. Then the attacker can tell them to inundate a particular site or phone number with traffic, effectively taking it offline. </p>
<p>Many internet companies have taken significant steps to guard against this sort of attack online. For example, <a href="https://projectshield.withgoogle.com/public/">Google Shield</a> is a service that protect news sites from attacks by using Google’s massive network of internet servers to filter out attacking traffic while allowing through only legitimate connections. Phone companies, however, have not taken similar action.</p>
<h2>Addressing the 911 telephone system</h2>
<p>Before 1968, American emergency services had local phone numbers. People had to <a href="https://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/emergservices/nh911/pubinfo/documents/history.pdf">dial specific numbers</a> to reach the fire, police or ambulance services – or could dial “0” for the operator, who could connect them. But that was inconvenient, and dangerous – people couldn’t remember the right number, or didn’t know it because they were just visiting the area. </p>
<p>The 911 system was created to serve as a more universal and effective system. As it has developed over the years, a 911 caller is connected with a specialized call center – called a public safety answering point – that is responsible for getting information from the caller and dispatching the appropriate emergency services.</p>
<p>These call centers are located in communities across the country, and each provides service to specific geographic regions. Some serve individual cities, while others serve wider areas, such as counties. When telephone customers dial 911 on their landlines or mobile phones, the telephone companies’ systems make the connection to the appropriate call center.</p>
<p>To better understand how denial-of-service attacks could affect 911 call systems, we created a detailed computer simulation of North Carolina’s 911 infrastructure, and a general simulation of the entire U.S. emergency-call system.</p>
<h2>Investigating the impact of an attack</h2>
<p>After we set up our simulation, we attacked it to find out how vulnerable it is. We found that it was possible to significantly reduce the availability of 911 service with only 6,000 infected mobile phones – just 0.0006 percent of the state’s population.</p>
<p>Using only that relatively small number of phones, it is possbile to effectively block 911 calls from 20 percent of North Carolina landline callers, and half of mobile customers. In our simulation, even people who called back four or five times would not be able to reach a 911 operator to get help.</p>
<p>Nationally, a similar percentage, representing just 200,000 hijacked smartphones, would have a similar effect. But this is, in a certain sense, an optimistic finding. Trey Forgety, the director of government affairs for the National Emergency Number Association, responded to our findings in the Washington Post, saying, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/09/09/how-americas-911-emergency-response-system-can-be-hacked/">We actually believe that the vulnerability is in fact worse than [the researchers] have calculated</a>.”</p>
<h2>Policy makes the threat worse</h2>
<p>These sorts of attacks could, potentially, be made less effective if malicious calls were identified and blocked at the moment they were placed. Mobile phones have two different kinds of identifying information. The IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) is the phone number a person must call to reach that phone. The IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) is used to track the specific physical device on the network.</p>
<p>A defense system could be set up to identify 911 calls coming from a particular phone that has made more than a certain number of 911 calls in a given period of time – say more than 10 calls in the last two minutes.</p>
<p>This raises ethical problems – what if there is a real and ongoing emergency, and someone keeps losing phone reception while talking to a dispatcher? If they called back too many times, would their cries for help be blocked? In any case, attackers who take over many phones could circumvent this sort of defense by telling their hijacked phones to call less frequently – and by having more individual phones make the calls. </p>
<p>But federal rules to ensure access to emergency services mean this issue might be moot anyway. A 1996 Federal Communications Commission order requires mobile phone companies to <a href="https://transition.fcc.gov/pshs/services/911-services/enhanced911/archives/factsheet_requirements_012001.pdf">forward all 911 calls directly</a> to emergency dispatchers. Cellphone companies are not allowed to check whether the phone the call is coming from has paid to have an active account in service. They cannot even check whether the phone has a SIM card in place. The FCC rule is simple: If anyone dials 911 on a mobile phone, they must be connected to an emergency call center.</p>
<p>The rule makes sense from a public safety perspective: If someone is having (or witnessing) a life-threatening emergency, they shouldn’t be barred from seeking help just because they didn’t pay their cellphone bill, or don’t happen to have an active account. </p>
<p>But the rule opens an vulnerability in the system, which attackers can exploit. A sophisticated attacker could infect a phone in a way that makes it dial 911 but report it does not have a SIM card. This “anonymized” phone reports no identity, no phone number and no information about who owns it. Neither the phone company nor the 911 call center could block this call without possibly blocking a legitimate call for help.</p>
<p>The countermeasures that exist, or are possible, today are difficult and highly flawed. Many of them involve blocking certain devices from calling 911, which carries the risk of preventing a legitimate call for help. But they indicate areas where further inquiry – and collaboration between researchers, telecommunications companies, regulators and emergency personnel – could yield useful breakthroughs. </p>
<p>For example, cellphones might be required to run a monitoring software to block themselves from making fraudulent 911 calls. Or 911 systems could examine identifying information of incoming calls and prioritize those made from phones that are not trying to mask themselves. We must find ways to safeguard the 911 system, which protects us all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yisroel Mirsky is affiliated with the department of software and information systems engineering at Ben-Gurion University, and the BGU Cyber Security Research Center. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mordechai Guri and Yuval Elovici do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Denial of service’ cyberattacks are increasingly used to shut down websites. New research reveals that 911 call centers are vulnerable to the threat as well.Mordechai Guri, Head of R&D, Cyber Security Research Center; Chief Scientist, Morphisec endpoint security, Ben-Gurion University of the NegevYisroel Mirsky, Ph.D. Candidate in Information Systems Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the NegevYuval Elovici, Professor of Information Systems Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the NegevLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/706362016-12-20T20:15:26Z2016-12-20T20:15:26ZWhy you can’t fry eggs (or testicles) with a cellphone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151083/original/image-20161220-26741-nmhzbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=721%2C0%2C3197%2C1982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pocket your phone without worry.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=533966416">Phone image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A minor craze in men’s underwear fashions these days seems to be <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/boxer-shorts-claim-protect-testicles-cellphone-radiation-n538576">briefs that shield the genitals</a> from cellphone radiation. The sales claim is that these products protect the testicles from the harmful effects of the radio waves emitted by cellphones, and therefore help maintain a robust sperm count and high fertility. These undergarments may shield the testicles from radiation, but do <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/boxer-rebellion-pocketed-cellphone-may-be-behind-your-infertility-287075">male cellphone users really risk infertility</a>?</p>
<p>The notion that electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency range can cause male sterility, either temporary or permanent, has been around for a long time. As I describe in my book <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10691.html">“Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation</a>,” during World War II some enlisted men would consistently and inexplicably volunteer for radar duty just prior to their scheduled leave days. It turned out that a rumor had been circulating that exposure to radio waves from the radar equipment produced temporary sterility, which the soldiers saw as an employment benefit.</p>
<p>The military wanted to know whether there was any substance to the sterility rumor. So they asked <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1946/muller-bio.html">Hermann Muller</a> – a geneticist who <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1946/muller-lecture.html">won the Nobel Prize</a> for showing that x-rays could cause sterility and genetic mutations – to evaluate the effects of radio waves in the same fruit fly experimental model he had used to show that x-rays impaired reproduction. </p>
<p>Muller could find no dose of radio waves that produced either sterility or genetic mutations, and concluded that radio waves did not present the same threat to fertility that x-rays did. Radio waves were different. But why? Aren’t both x-rays and radio waves <a href="http://www.livescience.com/38169-electromagnetism.html">electromagnetic radiation</a>?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151022/original/image-20161220-26741-1sutwex.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The electromagnetic spectrum, tiny wavelengths on the left, longer wavelengths on the right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EM_Spectrum_Properties_reflected.svg">Inductiveload</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yes, they are – but they differ in one key factor: They have very different wavelengths. All electromagnetic radiation travels through space as invisible waves of energy. And it’s the specific wavelength of the radiation that determines all of its effects, both physical and biological. The shorter wavelengths carry higher amounts of energy than the longer wavelengths.</p>
<p>X-rays are able to damage cells and tissues precisely because their wavelengths are extremely short – one-millionth the width of a human hair – and thus are highly energetic and very harmful to cells. Radio waves, in contrast, carry little energy because their wavelengths are very long – about the length of a football field. Such long-wavelength radiations have really low energies – too low to damage cells. And it’s this big difference between the wavelengths of x-rays and radio waves that the infertility theorists fail to recognize.</p>
<p>X-rays, and other high-energy waves, produce sterility by killing off the testicular cells that make sperm – the “<a href="https://www.repropedia.org/spermatogonium">spermatogonia</a>.” And x-ray doses must be extremely high to kill enough cells to produce sterility. Still, even when the doses are high, the sterility effect is usually temporary because the surviving spermatogonia are able to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/aja.1001180211">spawn replacements</a> for their dead comrades, and sperm counts typically return to their normal levels within a few months.</p>
<p>So, if high doses of highly energetic x-rays are needed to kill enough cells to produce sterility, how can low doses of radio waves with energies too low to kill cells do it? Good question.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/axUBeF-W7II?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Don’t fall for the phone-cooking-egg hoax.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At this point you may be thinking that you’ve seen videos of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axUBeF-W7II">cellphones cooking eggs</a>. And you’ve even experienced your cellphone getting pretty warm when it’s used heavily. But this doesn’t show that cellphones put out a lot of radiation energy. The cooked egg video is a prank, and the phone gets hot because of the heat generated by the chemical reactions going on within the battery, not from radio waves.</p>
<p>Still you protest: What about those sporadic reports claiming that cellphones suppress sperm counts? For the moment, that’s all they are – sporadic reports, unconfirmed by other investigators. You can find all kinds of random assertions about the effects of radiation on health, both <a href="http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/quackcures.htm">good</a> and <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/59721111/TOP10-Myths-About-Radiation">bad</a>, most of which imply that there is some type of validated scientific evidence to support the claim. Why not believe all of them?</p>
<p>If we’ve learned anything over the years about scientific evidence, it’s that isolated findings from individual labs, reporting limited experimental data, do not a strong case make. Most of the very limited “scientific” reports of infertility caused by cellphones, often <a href="http://www.ewg.org/cell-phone-radiation-damages-sperm-studies-find">cited by anti-cellphone activists</a>, come from outside the radiation biology community, and are published in lower-tier journals of questionable quality. Few, if any, of these reports make any attempt at actually measuring the radiation doses received from the cellphones (probably because they lack either the expertise or the equipment required to do it).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151040/original/image-20161220-26748-1ive95i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Human sperm, unconcerned by what’s in your pocket.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sperm_(265_33)_human.jpg">Doc. RNDr. Josef Reischig, CSc.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And none actually measure fertility rates – the health endpoint of concern – but rather measure sperm counts and other sperm quality parameters and then infer that there will be an impact on fertility. In fact, sperm counts can vary widely between normally fertile individuals and even within the same individual from day to day. For example, men who frequently ejaculate have lower sperm counts, as you might expect, because they are regularly jettisoning sperm. (Men who ejaculate daily can have <a href="http://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-015-0045-9">sperm counts 50 percent lower</a> than men who don’t.) Perhaps the allegedly lower sperm counts of cellphone users just means that they are having more sex!</p>
<p>But seriously, the point is this: There are so many things that can affect sperm counts in big ways that minor fluctuations in sperm counts have no practical impact on whether a man will produce babies, even if it were true that cellphones can modestly suppress sperm counts.</p>
<p>It is clear that these infertility claims are not the consensus of the mainstream scientific community – a community that demands more rigorous evidence. There are many excellent laboratories around the world that study radiation effects, and it isn’t difficult to study infertility in fruit flies, mice and even people. (It’s fairly easy to find men willing to <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2012/01/24/men-who-give-it-away">donate sperm samples</a>.) If the sterility story were true, there would be a chorus of well-respected laboratories from around the world singing the cellphone infertility song, not just a few.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151036/original/image-20161220-26748-eadyou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=837&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551824648">Smithsonian Institution</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fact is, the current data suggesting that cellphones cause infertility are too weak to challenge the dogma of over 100 years of commercial experience with radio waves. Radio waves are not unique to cellphones. They have been used for telecommunication ever since <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marconi-sends-first-atlantic-wireless-transmission">Marconi first demonstrated in 1901</a> that they could carry messages across the entire Atlantic Ocean. Early radio workers received massive doses of radio waves, yet there is no indication they had any problems with their fertility. If they didn’t experience fertility problems with their high doses, how can the relatively low doses from cellphones have such an effect? Hard to understand.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, people can spend their money as they please and wear any underwear they want. But if you are still concerned about radio waves affecting your fertility, why not just carry your cellphone in your shirt pocket rather than your pants, and let your testicles be?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy J. Jorgensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Did your holiday gift list include radiation-shielding undies to protect your privates from cellphone radio waves? A radiation expert explains they’re unnecessary – your phone won’t affect your fertility.Timothy J. Jorgensen, Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/574712016-05-26T01:24:33Z2016-05-26T01:24:33ZImproving patient care by bridging the divide between doctors and data scientists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124031/original/image-20160525-25226-1sk5ic6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can we get more doctors using better data?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-326305964/stock-photo-medicine-doctor-hand-working-with-modern-computer-interface-as-medical-network-concept.html">Doctor and data image from shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While wonderful new medical discoveries and innovations are in the news every day, doctors struggle daily with using information and techniques available right now while carefully adopting new concepts and treatments. As a practicing doctor, I deal with uncertainties and unanswered clinical questions all the time.</p>
<p>I encounter two key limitations in making the best possible decisions for my patients under any circumstances. First, while there are reams of information in books and online, doctors often lack the time to find and digest it all. Instead, we must work with what we carry in our heads, from personal experience and education. Another constraint, perhaps even more important, is that the information available is usually not focused on the specific individual or situation at hand.</p>
<p>For example, there are general guidelines for the ideal blood pressure a patient with a severe infection should have. However, the truly best target blood pressure levels likely differ from patient to patient, and perhaps even changes for an individual patient over the course of treatment.</p>
<p>The ongoing computerization of health records presents an opportunity to overcome these limitations. Analyzing electronic data from many doctors’ experiences with many patients, we can move ever closer to answering the age-old question: what is truly best for each patient? In countries with advanced health care systems, we can find optimal care by improving analysis of the data doctors already collect. In poorer and more rural countries, we must first collect that data before being able to analyze it. In both cases, medical professionals and data scientists need to work together to improve health care for everyone.</p>
<h2>Toward individual application of mass data</h2>
<p>This type of data-driven approach could be very useful. At the moment, a <a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2011/Clinical-Practice-Guidelines-We-Can-Trust.aspx">report from the National Academy of Medicine</a> tells us, most doctors base most of their everyday decisions on guidelines from (sometimes biased) expert opinions or small clinical trials. It would be better if they were from multicenter, large, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0197-2456(81)90056-8">randomized controlled studies</a>, with tightly controlled conditions ensuring the results are as reliable as possible. However, those are expensive and difficult to perform, and even then often <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.297.11.1233">exclude a number of important patient groups</a> on the basis of age, disease and sociological factors.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that health records are traditionally kept on paper, making them hard to analyze en masse. As a result, most of what medical professionals might have learned from experiences was lost – or at least was inaccessible to another doctor meeting with a similar patient.</p>
<p>A digital system would collect and store as much clinical data as possible from as many patients as possible. It could then use information from the past – such as blood pressure, blood sugar levels, heart rate and other measurements of patients’ body functions – to guide future doctors to the best diagnosis and treatment of similar patients.</p>
<p>Industrial <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329801-700-google-launches-new-project-to-understand-human-health/">giants such as Google</a>, IBM, SAP and <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/29/hps-the-machine-to-revolutionize-personalized-medicine-with-big-data.html">Hewlett-Packard have also recognized the potential</a> for this kind of approach, and are now working on how to leverage population data for the precise medical care of individuals. </p>
<h2>Collaborating on data and medicine</h2>
<p>At the <a href="http://lcp.mit.edu/">Laboratory of Computational Physiology</a> at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we have begun to collect large amounts of detailed patient data in the Medical Information Mart in Intensive Care (MIMIC). It is a database containing information from 60,000 patient admissions to the intensive care units of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Boston teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. The data in MIMIC has been meticulously scoured so individual patients cannot be recognized, and is <a href="https://mimic.physionet.org/">freely shared online with the research community</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124040/original/image-20160525-25226-tvc5ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At MIT, seeking participants in a data-medicine collaboration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the database itself is not enough. We bring together front-line clinicians (such as nurses, pharmacists and doctors) to identify questions they want to investigate, and data scientists to conduct the appropriate analyses of the MIMIC records. This gives caregivers and patients the best individualized treatment options in the absence of a randomized controlled trial.</p>
<h2>Bringing data analysis to the world</h2>
<p>At the same time we are working to bring these data-enabled systems to assist with medical decisions to countries with limited health care resources, where research is considered an expensive luxury. Often these countries have few or no medical records – even on paper – to analyze. We can help them collect health data digitally, creating the potential to significantly improve medical care for their populations.</p>
<p>This task is <a href="http://sana.mit.edu/">the focus of Sana</a>, a collection of technical, medical and community experts from across the globe that is also based in our group at MIT. Sana has designed a digital health information system specifically for use by health providers and patients in rural and underserved areas. </p>
<p>At its core is an open-source system that uses cellphones – common even in poor and rural nations – to collect, transmit and store all sorts of medical data. It can handle not only basic patient data such as height and weight, but also photos and X-rays, ultrasound videos, and electrical signals from a patient’s brain (EEG) and heart (ECG).</p>
<p>Partnering with universities and health organizations, Sana organizes training sessions (which we call “bootcamps”) and collaborative workshops (called “hackathons”) to connect nurses, doctors and community health workers at the front lines of care with technology experts in or near their communities. In 2015, we held bootcamps and hackathons in Colombia, Uganda, Greece and Mexico. The bootcamps teach students in technical fields like computer science and engineering how to design and develop health apps that can run on cellphones. Immediately following the bootcamp, the medical providers join the group and the hackathon begins. </p>
<p>Originally the brainchild of Silicon Valley, a hackathon brings people from different fields together over a short period of time to attack a specific problem or type of problem. At Sana events, attendees focus on a specific health problem, such as how to screen rural populations for heart disease or monitor children with epilepsy, using cellphones. </p>
<p>Teams build prototype apps to address specific problems the doctors and nurses have encountered. Some projects from the hackathon are continued as research or start-up ventures.</p>
<h2>Delivering better health care through technology</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124039/original/image-20160525-25226-lcpsmd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attendees at the 2016 Mexico City bootcamp-hackathon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Mexico City at the beginning of 2016, Sana held a bootcamp-hackathon focusing on the health needs of older people. Joining the efforts of the engineering department of the local university, Tec de Monterrey, and geriatricians at a local hospital, it produced several promising prototype applications. </p>
<p>One app would help to provide patients with exercises to control urinary incontinence. An “Uber-like” app would connect families with caretakers – relieving them from relying on word of mouth or worse, the phone book. A third “Tinder-like” app would help elderly people find others with similar interests, reducing their social isolation. The collaborations continue to further develop the prototypes and test a few of them in the hospital and clinics.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, though, the purpose is not the apps. By fostering relationships among engineers, health care providers and even patients, the Sana and MIMIC projects are helping to move medicine into a truly functional and beneficial digital age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leo Anthony Celi receives funding from the National Institute of Health and Philips Healthcare.</span></em></p>Analyzing electronic data from many doctors’ experiences with many patients, we can move ever closer to answering the age-old question: what is truly best for each patient?Leo Anthony Celi, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Clinical Research Director, Laboratory of Computational Physiology; Founder and Director, Sana, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/595492016-05-22T10:12:44Z2016-05-22T10:12:44ZHow mobile phones are disrupting teaching and learning in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122989/original/image-20160518-13478-d5gdfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mobile phones have many benefits. But they can also interrupt classes and distract pupils.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">KODAKovic/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mobile phones have <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/04/15/cell-phones-in-africa-communication-lifeline/">become ubiquitous</a> in Africa. Among younger users, basic phones are most common. But more pupils are accessing smartphones that can connect to the internet – and taking them along to school.</p>
<p>Phones are often used in school whether they’re allowed or not. Although they can enable valuable access to information, they also bring new responsibilities and dangers. It’s remarkably common for classes to be interrupted by both pupils’ and teachers’ phones. Access to pornography as well as bullying and harassment through phones is widely reported.</p>
<p>We have conducted a <a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/child.phones/">study</a> of young people’s mobile phone use in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. Our findings emphasise the central place that mobile phones occupy in many young people’s lives. Before the mobile phone arrived in Africa, few people had <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/04/15/cell-phones-in-africa-communication-lifeline/#landline-penetration-near-zero">access to landlines</a>. The mobile phone represents far more of a communication revolution in Africa than in richer countries.</p>
<h2>Researching phone stories</h2>
<p>The study, involving a group of university researchers from the UK and Africa, was funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council and Department for International Development. It covers many aspects of young people’s phone use, from generational relations to job searches and health advice. Use in school has emerged as a leading issue, echoing concerns <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2015/06/15/cellphones-school-teaching-tool-distraction/OzHjXyL7VVIXV1AEkeYTiJ/story.html">around the world</a>.</p>
<p>We conducted more than 1,500 face-to-face interviews and focus groups with young people, teachers, parents and key community members across 24 locations – eight in each country. These varied from poor city neighbourhoods to remote rural hamlets.</p>
<p>We followed this up with a questionnaire to about 3,000 young people aged between nine and 18 and 1,500 young people aged between 19 and 25 in the same 24 locations.</p>
<p>The survey of children aged nine to 18 years shows that mobile phone use is much higher than ownership figures might suggest. Ownership of phones was lowest in Malawi, the poorest of the three countries. Here only 8% of children in the survey owned their own phone, compared with 16% in Ghana and 51% in South Africa. Nonetheless, in Malawi 35% of children said they had used a phone in the week before the survey. In Ghana the figure was 42% and in South Africa it was 77%. Children often borrow phones from each other, their parents, other family members and neighbours.</p>
<h2>Children’s use of phones</h2>
<p>Some pupils, particularly in South Africa, use their phones to access sites like Master Maths for help with homework. But the positive benefits mostly seem to be limited to mundane tasks such as contacting friends to check on homework or using the phone as a calculator. Much information from pupils and teachers was more negative: academic performance affected by disrupted classes – due to teachers as well as pupils using their phones – disrupted sleep because of cheap night calls, time wasted on prolonged sessions on social network sites, and harassment, bullying and pornography.</p>
<p>Class disruption from pupils’ phones used to be mostly from ring tones when calls were received. Now, for those with smartphones, messaging on WhatsApp or checking Facebook have become common classroom activities. Teachers’ phone use in class can be equally disruptive, as some teachers admitted. A call comes in, or they make a call, and whether they step outside or take the call in class, the end result is that the lesson is interrupted and – as more than one told us – “You forget what you are going to deliver.”</p>
<p>In Malawi, 60% of enrolled pupils said they had seen their teacher using a phone in lesson time during the week before the survey. The corresponding figure for Ghana was 66% and for South Africa 88%. Pupils are rarely given such an opportunity to comment on the behaviour of those in authority over them but even if not all were truthful, these figures are of concern. Many head teachers also spoke about the problem of teacher phone use, saying they found it difficult to regulate.</p>
<p>Other problems include disturbing levels of pupil bullying and harassment. In the survey of enrolled pupils who use a phone, 16% in Ghana, 28% in Malawi and 55% in South Africa said they had received unwanted, unpleasant or upsetting calls or texts. This was almost equally true for boys and girls.</p>
<p>Distribution and viewing of pornography is also widespread, as older boys were often willing to disclose. A few – even primary school pupils – mentioned <a href="https://www.childline.org.uk/explore/onlinesafety/pages/sexting.aspx">sexting</a>.</p>
<h2>Promoting responsible phone use in school</h2>
<p>Many head teachers have asked us how to promote responsible phone use in school. Here are some suggestions:</p>
<p><strong>Pupil phone use:</strong> It is important to have a clear school policy on pupil phone use, to inform parents about this and to explain the reasoning behind it. If the school has decided to allow pupils to bring their mobile phone to school – for instance, because of travel problems – but not to use it in school, then pupils could be required to put a name tag on their phone and deposit it with a staff member, using a register, before school begins. In this case parents or carers must be given a phone number for urgent messages.</p>
<p>If the school allows pupils to use mobile phones in class as calculators or to access the internet, pupils and their parents could sign an “acceptable use” agreement each term. This would promote effective use of class time and their own and other pupils’ safety.</p>
<p>Pupils also need reminders not to publish personal information on the internet and to tell their teacher, a parent or carer if they access any information that worries them. Parents must be encouraged to help their child follow the school’s guidelines. Asking them to sign an acceptable use agreement together with their children will help.</p>
<p><strong>Teacher phone use:</strong> Teachers’ mobile phones should be switched off and left in a safe place during lesson times. If teachers are using their phones when pupils are banned from doing so, pupils may become resentful. Staff should not contact pupils from their personal mobile phones or give their mobile phone numbers to pupils or parents. This would help teachers maintain sound professional practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Porter, the PI on this project, and her collaborators: Kate Hampshire, Albert Abane, Alister Munthali, Augustine Tanle, Elsbeth Robson, Mac Mashiri, Ariane De Lannoy, have received funding for the research from the UK Economic and Research Council and the Department for International Development, project ES/J018082/1</span></em></p>More pupils in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa are taking smartphones to school. These can be useful learning tools – or terrible distractions.Gina Porter, Senior Research Fellow, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/567272016-04-28T10:08:47Z2016-04-28T10:08:47Z‘Burner’ phones, social media and online magazines: understanding the technology of terrorism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120390/original/image-20160427-30967-6a4hq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prepaid cellphones are just one of many technological tools used by criminals and terrorists.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-329813495/stock-photo-mobile-phone.html">flip phone image via shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the global threat of terrorism, the actual attacks that occur can vary widely. Terrorists aim at different targets in different locations, and tend to be either shooting or bombing or both. There is, however, a central point of connection linking all these events: the use of technology to coordinate and organize the incident.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/world/europe/a-view-of-isiss-evolution-in-new-details-of-paris-attacks.html?_r=0">Recent reporting</a> suggests that terrorists used “burner” phones, prepaid disposable mobile phones, to coordinate their actions during last year’s Paris terror attacks. This is not a new or innovative tactic. <a href="http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/12/10-technologies-drug-dealers-need-to-stay-out-of-jail/prepaid-cell-phone">Drug dealers</a>, street prostitutes and other criminal groups in the U.S. regularly use these devices for communication: they are cheap, plentiful and <a href="https://www.puretalkusa.com/blog/what-is-a-burner-phone/">difficult to link to a real identity</a>. Their value lies in real-time communication, via text or voice call, that needs no software nor even a computer to connect.</p>
<p>Having researched cybercrime and technology use among criminal populations for more than a decade, I have seen firsthand that throwaway phones are just one piece of the ever-widening technological arsenal of extremists and terror groups of all kinds. Computers, smartphones and tablets also draw people into a movement, indoctrinate them and coordinate various parts of an attack, making technology a fundamental component of modern terrorism.</p>
<h2>Attracting attention</h2>
<p>Different resources and applications are pivotal at different phases in the process of radicalization to violence, and for good reason. For instance, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Periscope give extremist groups a venue to attract individuals to join their movements. </p>
<p>Social media is especially effective for terrorist groups because it allows people to share and spread short messages, including text and images, in rapid bursts. With access from nearly any device, such as desktop or laptop computers and mobile phones – including burners – individuals can connect to larger networks of members around the world. Those communities can then reinforce ideological beliefs and spin messages.</p>
<p>The Islamic State group has a <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/%7E/media/research/files/papers/2015/03/isis-twitter-census-berger-morgan/isis_twitter_census_berger_morgan.pdf">significant presence</a> on Twitter. It uses <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/05/technology/twitter-terrorists-isis/">hundreds of thousands of user accounts</a> to broadcast information about its activities on the ground in real time, as well as to attract individuals to the movement. There have been <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/03/world/meast/syria-defector-recruits-westerners/">several examples</a> over the last few years of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/world/americas/isis-online-recruiting-american">young people being recruited into the Islamic State group via social media</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/world/europe/jihad-and-girl-power-how-isis-lured-3-london-teenagers.html">encouraged to travel to join the fight</a>.</p>
<p>Since social media posts are shared in near-real time, terror groups can also post messages to claim responsibility for a terror attack or act of violence. People who see it can <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-telegram-twitter-brussels-attacks-2016-3">share it with others</a>, drawing attention to this news and giving these groups additional attention from people who might join their cause.</p>
<h2>Engaging in discussion</h2>
<p>Web forums are another important venue for information sharing, radicalization and recruitment. Forums are asynchronous, meaning posts made can be seen at any time – seconds, minutes or even days after being made. Forums also let individuals post lengthy messages with images, hyperlinks and text that may take more time to read and interpret. As a result, they are more conversational and lead people to <a href="http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/cheering-for-osama-how-jihadists-use-the-internet-forums.pdf">participate over long periods of time</a>. </p>
<p>Forums are essential for long-term construction of shared cultures underlying extremist movements. They let people debate at length topics and minutiae of belief systems beyond what is possible on social media. In fact, one of the oldest web forums used by members of neo-Nazi and other radical far-right extremist groups in the U.S., called Stormfront, has been <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/stormfront">in operation since 1996</a>. </p>
<p>Individual websites also play an important role in the spread of information and radicalization because creators can tailor specific messages to audiences in ways that may not be readily contradicted. For instance, the racist group Stormwatch operates a website about civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The site (martinlutherking.org) appears to be filled with biographical information, but in reality attacks King, questioning his motives and his morals. It also takes facts about his life and quotes from speeches out of context in an attempt to undermine his role in the American civil rights movement. </p>
<p>In addition, websites allow groups to publish highly stylized media materials to support and promote their agendas. For example, <em>Inspire</em> magazine appears to be a lifestyle publication published in multiple languages, but is <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/09/03/whats-between-the-covers-of-al-qaedas-inspire-magazine/">published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula</a> to promote a jihadist agenda. Evidence suggests that the perpetrator of the San Bernardino terror attacks of 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook, and his neighbor would regularly consume <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/12/san-bernardino-gun-charges/420966/">radical jihadist media</a> including Inspire magazine and online videos produced by al-Qaida’s Somalian branch, Al-Shabaab.</p>
<h2>Planning and acting</h2>
<p>Extremist groups can also use online information to plan their attacks. For instance, al-Qaida-linked actors allegedly <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2008-11-06-googleearth_N.htm">used Google Earth</a> in the run-up to their eventually failed attack against oil processing facilities in Yemen in 2006. Similarly, Google Earth maps were used by terrorists to navigate <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/154684/article.html">during the 2008 Mumbai attacks</a>. </p>
<p>Once someone is radicalized and expresses willingness to travel to engage in foreign training or an actual attack, the use of burner phones becomes essential to reduce detection by law enforcement. It does take more work than regular use of a mobile phone: to sustain communications over time, users must share and keep track of often-changing phone numbers. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.b3rn3d.com/blog/2014/01/22/burnerphone/">Privacy advocates suggest</a> that burner phone users never actually store contacts’ numbers on the device itself, which would save them on the phone’s SIM card. That could let police use that data during an investigation. So users must write down or memorize phone numbers, which keeps the information available but easily abandoned in case of emergency.</p>
<p>Burner phones can also be used to activate bombs, since only the maker may know the phone number and <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/boston-marathon-bomb-attack/">call it to activate the device</a>. After they are used, burner phones can be destroyed to further reduce the likelihood of identification and forensic evidence collection. </p>
<p>Taken as a whole, we must recognize that technology use by extremist groups extends well beyond any one type of device, across the continuum of both hardware and software communication platforms. As technologies continue to evolve, extremists will continue to stay on the cutting edge of communications, whether they are encrypted or completely open. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies must be able to adapt investigative resources to these various platforms and do so quickly in order to better respond to these threats. Otherwise, gaps in collection and analysis may lead to intelligence failures and successful attacks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Holt receives funding from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice, though the opinions, recommendations, and conclusions presented are those of the author and do not reflect those of the Department of Justice. </span></em></p>Throwaway phones are just one piece of the ever-widening technological arsenal of extremists and terror groups of all kinds.Thomas Holt, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/542132016-02-11T05:54:06Z2016-02-11T05:54:06ZMany low-income students use only their phone to get online. What are they missing?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110992/original/image-20160210-12157-f8c0jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do students miss when they access the Internet only through mobile devices?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/monashuni/8218200759/in/photolist-dwdqLx-aer8Kg-aYKuN8-aYNN7i-aqjtxh-jR9gc-DiwRQy-5Axiq4-8mCpxo-5z8Fwo-5zhjCN-5zd2gK-5XnJgj-5AxiFe-pRatmy-oWwGyt-pAVWcU-oWwGS4-pT6eSa-pAVVWJ-5AByeQ-pKiK9C-5zd2cK-d3udhb-5sfurc-8SksYC-8RmgXZ-mLmKAi-mLmPUX-qUM4zd-7aT4jN-5AxhXk-ozXng8-5AxifB-5AByw3-5zjWKK-5zd2CH-d3ubvb-8KgkPa-5zhjnj-5z8FrL-bANkgT-5Axgnr-5ABxS7-d3ubCy-fbqQMM-fbF7yy-d3udQ7-d3udcL-d79YHE">Monash University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many of us, access to the Internet through a variety of means is a given. I can access the Internet through two laptops, a tablet, a smartphone and even both of my game systems, from the comfort of my living room.</p>
<p>However, this access is unequally distributed. Although <a href="http://digitalequityforlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jgcc_opportunityforall.pdf">nine out of 10</a> low-income families have Internet access at home, most are underconnected: that is, they have “mobile-only” access – they are able to connect to the Internet only through a smart device, such as a tablet or a smartphone.</p>
<p>A recent report, “<a href="http://digitalequityforlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jgcc_opportunityforall.pdf">Opportunity for all? Technology and learning in low income families</a>,” shows that one-quarter of those earning below the median income and one-third of those living below poverty level accessed the Internet only through their mobile devices.</p>
<p>This leads to limited access: A third of families with mobile-only access quickly hit the data limits on their mobile phone plans and about a quarter have their phone service cut off for lack of payment. </p>
<p>So, what impact does this type of access have on youth learning?</p>
<h2>What changes with a computer connection</h2>
<p>My research has explored underserved youth’s use of technology to discover and participate in content related to their interests. Having access only through their mobile devices means that low-income families and youth do not have the same access to the Internet as those with other Internet connections.</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalequityforlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jgcc_opportunityforall.pdf">One-fifth of families</a> who access the Internet only through their mobile devices say too many family members have to share one device. This means that the amount of time each individual has to access the Internet is limited.</p>
<p>This can be a barrier to learning for young people. It can limit their access to resources to complete their homework, as well as create barriers for other learning. Thirty-five percent of youth who have mobile-only access look online for information about things they are interested in. But this goes up to 52 percent when young people have access to an Internet-connected computer.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110996/original/image-20160210-12178-1g9vivv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When young people have access to an Internet-supported computer, it facilitates their learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yolaleah/2214632990/in/photolist-4nGzeq-3tYJzo-AHRnSg-3wTY9R-dTxTDZ-3wXaKt-3ye8q2-3yh1jm-7FV5U5-3ycPd8-3yFFEC-6Zd89f-b1R7x4-3wW59a-jS38RM-4hWy4e-7R8k88-3gMdbt-3gRApA-3gMe5z-3vBgsC-6xahbi-BmQsek-BjU7LN-5fv65R-n8Lkv-CqJyt-opPJmP-66eN63-o6Adst-3wmcAh-3ycy26-3yeJPA-3v97Qg-mbTk6-352cQf-8NrGnf-7FR8G4-acmaU3-39R1Nt-3ybRuZ-3yemiS-4Ksus7-6uvByB-36Z1cM-3yiGbh-3x5c9Q-iCSArN-4rHF1Q-o6yY1A">leah</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When young people have their own access to the Internet, they have an opportunity to engage in <a href="http://clrn.dmlhub.net/publications/connected-learning-an-agenda-for-research-and-design">connected learning</a> – learning that is based on interest, is supported by peers and has the potential to offer better opportunities for the future.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://dmlhub.net/publications/hats-house-elves-connected-learning-and-civic-engagement-hogwarts-ravelry/">2014 paper</a> on the use of digital media as a learning tool highlights how learning around interests can be supported through online resources.</p>
<p>The paper tells the story of Amy, a participant in an online knitting community, Hogwarts at Ravelry, which combines both interest in knitting and the Harry Potter series. Amy finds inspiration in the vast knitting pattern library of the group and receiving support from others in the community. She begins to develop, design and write patterns of her own. And, as a teenager, she begins selling her patterns online. </p>
<p>Amy’s access to a stable Internet connection and her own dedication allowed her to dive deep into the activities of the community. Over time, it allowed her to become more active and engaged in knitting. </p>
<p>Another example of what youth can accomplish online comes from <a href="http://dmlhub.net/publications/learning-ropes-connected-learning-wwe-fan-community/">my 2014 research</a> on a professional wrestling fan community, a set of forums where professional wrestling fans get together virtually to discuss the many facets of professional wrestling.</p>
<p>Maria, a professional wrestling fan, seeks out an online community because she lacks local support for her interest. Through her participation, she realizes her deep enjoyment of writing. She carries this back into her English class and the school newspaper. This eventually leads her to take creative writing as a second degree in college.</p>
<p>Maria spent hours on her computer carefully crafting her narratives while participating on the forum. With a mobile-only access, she would not have had the amount of time online, or the amount of bandwidth, required for this work. This is supported by the fact that only <a href="http://digitalequityforlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jgcc_opportunityforall.pdf">31 percent of children</a> with mobile-only access go online daily as compared to 51 percent of those with other Internet access. </p>
<h2>How low-income youth get left behind</h2>
<p>Mobile-only access to the Internet can create serious barriers for youth who want to access content and educational supports.</p>
<p>As part of my research, I have been conducting workshops in libraries located in low-income communities, using an online coding program that is not yet available on mobile devices. In one of the workshops, students needed to work on projects outside of the sessions. </p>
<p>Because of the limited technology access at home, the librarian held additional open hours so the youth participating in the workshop could work on their projects outside of the workshop hours. A few youth had access to their own computers, but the majority had only mobile access.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110999/original/image-20160210-12137-r2drul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people who have computer access create may better projects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwerner/2910585573/in/photolist-5rcvFT-rY6aZ-bzTgkc-6C86tZ-du9F5K-x4fj6-fZSc81-7XKY6R-7XKYGF-6mMJgj-7XPg4j-7XPeJU-6qu813-mEJyiQ-5BQ2oC-6qujn1-gBM9KR-7rB2vG-8jaWaX-6UjaUt-6PHY9n-8jaX6g-8jedyb-kcVQr-rKyEb4-EM9mQ-5zB54X-7H5opE-8gEP5T-7Gx3uV-oLed6-cieLub-8Qz3HX-ypsE-bDgv6u-6jndg9-3JNsPf-746uwM-oV493-61e2vt-e8R8DB-dH6oR-6HCJ3R-6Fvd8t-4wqDUP-iYnD-ShbF7-f53Uy-87h9c2-s2iCPq">Jeff Werner</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The youth with computer access at home created more complex projects. This was partly because they had more time to develop, modify and problem-solve their projects. But it was also because the coding program was available to only those with computer access. These youth also seemed to develop a deeper interest in coding potentially due to this greater level of exposure.</p>
<h2>Need for better understanding</h2>
<p>What becomes evident from the data from “<a href="http://digitalequityforlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jgcc_opportunityforall.pdf">Opportunity for all? Technology and learning in low income families</a>” and from the examples from research is that having access to the Internet only through a phone can have an impact on young people’s access to learning opportunities.</p>
<p>Designers, educators and researchers need to be aware and continually create more equity through mindful decision-making.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/amanda-ochsner/">Amanda Ochsner</a>, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California who studies how underrepresented groups of young people engage with games and digital media, argues that when designers and developers take the time to understand young people’s digital lives, they are ultimately able to make better tools. As she said to me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In offices where the most recent models of laptops, tablets, and iPhones are abundant, it’s far too easy for those of us who develop educational tools and technologies to misjudge the technological realities of the young people the education tools and technologies are designing for.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Just how young people access online, in other words, matters – a lot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Crystle Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A third of families living below poverty level access the Internet only through their phones. And young people from these families get access to few learning opportunities.Crystle Martin, Postdoctoral Researcher , University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/435722015-07-07T08:59:03Z2015-07-07T08:59:03ZThe value of unplugging in the Age of Distraction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86288/original/image-20150624-31514-n5hh9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Small device, but very demanding. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mean-machine/6078011142/in/photolist-ag6oXy-rMF3c9-rMME7r-8nJeGe-nWwc4N-arpxyr-hHCyWm-bLPCz2-6FCzJa-boMxDB-boM6hr-nYyJCc-7fC5iG-7V7Y3w-nMFSb9-boMx9T-boLVQP-85YfZC-6GwzYu-boM2BH-boMavK-pg3XzX-boM36a-boM6Pk-boMbUD-boLRb4-boM18v-boMyn8-boM9Dt-hERJkT-boLZ3F-boLUg8-boLXhR-boLRst-boLSq8-boMbyB-boLZdv-boM8pe-boLYA8-boLZB6-boM4Dz-boLSVP-boM7Re-boLRRe-boMa2F-boMd4F-boMcDX-boLTxe-boM3Z4-boMdwi/">aciej_ie/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A common experience: you are walking down the street and someone is walking in the opposite direction toward you. You see him but he does not see you. He is texting or looking at his cellphone. He is distracted, trying to do two things at the same time, walking and communicating. </p>
<p>There is also the telltale recognition of a car driver on a phone; she’s driving either too slowly or too fast for the surrounding conditions, only partly connected to what is going on around her. Connected to someone else in another place, she is not present in the here and now. </p>
<p>These types of occurrences are now common enough that we can label our time as the age of distraction. </p>
<h2>A dangerous condition</h2>
<p>The age of distraction is dangerous. A 2015 report by the National Safety Council showed that walking while texting increases the risk of accidents. More than <a href="https://www.nsc.org/in-the-newsroom/distracted-walking-injuries-on-the-rise-52-percent-occur-at-home">11,000 people</a> were injured between 2000 and 2011 while walking and talking on their phones. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86291/original/image-20150624-31507-eye31h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Really bad idea: texting while driving.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackeycove/3647897679/in/photolist-6ymqTz-c5sSU3-7ASHom-7ANVXv-7ANVxZ-7ASH5u-7ASGZs-7ASHmE-7ASHAA-7ANVF6-7ASH2E-7ASHbU-7ANVGP-7ASHxu-7ANVBk-7ASHrY-7ASHqm-7ANVpK-7ASHtQ-7ASHpj-7ANW1X-7ASHvo-7ANVvi-7ANVD4-7ASH47-7ASHjN-ddvenY-ddveNF-ddvg9q-ddvff9-ddvdo8-ddveEj-ddvedR-ddvhCJ-ddvgxd-ddvge4-ddvhiq-ddvfQ3-7yjCYS-2qMt8E-usNLV9-usNASG-usNLuu-uKCYoZ-usNMC1-uJWdfQ-tNnZnf-tNxThP-usWEcT-uH5cGf">Paul Oka/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even more dangerous is the <a href="http://www.nsc.org/DistractedDrivingDocuments/The-Great-Multitasking-Lie-print.pdf">distracted car driver</a>. Distracted drivers have more fluctuating speed, change lanes fewer times than is necessary and in general make driving for everyone less safe and less <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4435680/">efficient</a>.</p>
<p>Texting while driving resulted in 16,000 additional road fatalities from 2001 to 2007. More than 21% of vehicle accidents are now attributable to drivers talking on cellphones and another <a href="http://www.undistracteddrivingadvocacy.net/linked/wilson_trends_in_fatalities_from_distracted_driving_in_the_united_states_1999_to_2008.pdf">5% were text messaging</a>.</p>
<h2>Cognitive impairment</h2>
<p>Multitasking relatively complex functions, such as operating handheld devices to communicate while walking or driving, is not so much an efficient use of our time as a suboptimal use of our skills. </p>
<p>We are more efficient users of information when we concentrate on one task at a time. When we try to do more than one thing, we suffer from inattention blindness, which is failing to recognize other things, such as people walking toward us or other road users. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86295/original/image-20150624-31495-13nymyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Digital devices, which are proliferating in our lives, encourage multitasking, but does this really help our performance?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/3071055422/in/photolist-5FnXMq-4bdPeu-oaeRnf-5FJTyM-b6o1Z-6UsjAC-4uNX4u-bEtsqs-5EC3Sb-8dBff4-7Xmtab-cCGnZE-kjrqx-dXxjd7-7MuTo7-3agepd-5CK8hj-pae1Qy-5RCVaP-EMpVU-8kbzxQ-nCZ8js-fxnWdn-pc7gos-fM2dv-8tf56b-2WrE-jHQNom-38EQiE-546LAj-53Sfvi-ujgnJ-nYYFun-eeLJ3B-9z6PCX-kB2EMk-4y2mwB-9pnmx8-nXCwFw-5RiEbb-tMQoq-dtZiwk-2KGwLd-8GLhXU-gpJtY6-6iyKgK-DVbyu-5Zef2Z-8sPUbP-4NKwGs">Thomas Hawk/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Multitaskers do worse on standard tests of pattern recognition and memory recall. In a now <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/37/15583.long">classic study</a>, researchers at Stanford University found that multitaskers were less efficient because they were more susceptible to using irrelevant information and drawing on inappropriate memories. </p>
<p>Multitasking may not be all that good for you either. A 2010 survey of over 2,000 8- to 12-year-old girls in the US and Canada found that media multitasking was associated with <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clifford_Nass2/publication/228453286_Media_use_face-to-face_communication_media_multitasking_and_social_well-being_among_8-to_12-year-old_girls/links/02bfe50cb68174ee6f000000.pdf">negative social indicators</a>, while face-to-face contact was associated with more positive social indicators such as social success, feelings of normalcy and hours of sleep (vital for young people). </p>
<p>Although the causal mechanism has yet to be fully understood – that is, what causes what – the conclusion is that media multitasking is not a source of happiness. </p>
<h2>Distraction-seeking creatures?</h2>
<p>There are a number of reasons behind this growing distraction. </p>
<p>One often-cited reason is the pressure of time. There is less time to accomplish all that we need to do. Multitasking then is the result of the pressure to do more things in the same limited time. But <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/rest.89.2.374#.VYa37ev6SEk">numerous studies</a> point to the discretionary use of time among the more affluent, and especially more affluent men. The crunch of time varies by gender and class. And, paradoxically, it is less of an objective constraint for those who often <a href="http://jamesmahmudrice.info/Time-Pressure.pdf">articulate it most</a>.</p>
<p>Although the time crunch is a reality, especially for many women and lower-income groups, the age of distraction is not simply a result of a time crunch. It may also reflect another form of being. We need to reconsider what it means to be human, not as continuous thought-bearing and task-completing beings but as distraction-seeking creatures that want to escape the bonds of the here-and-nowness with the <a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=18413">constant allure of someone and somewhere else</a>. </p>
<p>Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff asserts that our sense of time has been warped into a frenzied present tense of what he calls “digiphrenia,” the social media-created effect of being in multiple places and <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/astrostyle-20/detail/1591844762">more than one self all at once</a>.</p>
<p>There is also something sadder at work. The constant messaging, emailing and cellphoning, especially in public places, may be less about communicating with the people on the other end as about signaling to those around that you are so busy or so important, so connected, that you exist in more than just the here and now, clearly a diminished state of just being. </p>
<p>There’s greater status in being highly connected and constantly communicating. This may explain why many people speak so loudly on their cellphones in public places.</p>
<h2>Reactions</h2>
<p>The age of distraction is so recent we have yet to fully grasp it. Sometimes art is a good mediator of the very new. </p>
<p>A video art installation by Siebren Verstag is entitled<a href="https://vimeo.com/10882097"> Neither There nor There</a>. It consists of two screens. On one side a man sits looking at his phone; slowly his form loosens as pixels move to the adjacent screen and back again. The man’s form moves from screen to screen, in two places at one time but not fully in either. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-smart-is-it-to-allow-students-to-use-mobile-phones-at-school-40621">study</a> that looked at the effect of banning cellphones in schools found that student achievement improved when cellphone were banned, with the greatest improvements accruing to lower-achieving students, who gained the equivalent of an additional hour of learning a week.</p>
<p>On many college campuses, faculty now have a closed-laptop policy after finding students would use their open laptops to skim their emails, surf the web and distract their neighbors. This was confirmed by <a href="http://www.ugr.es/%7Evictorhs/recinfo/docs/10.1.1.9.9018.pdf">studies</a> that showed that students with open laptops learned less and could recall less than students with their laptops closed.</p>
<p>We are witnessing a cultural shift occurring with the banning of devices, cellphone usage being curtailed in certain public places and policies banning texting while driving. This is reactive. We also need a new proactive civic etiquette so that the distracted walker, driver and talker have to navigate new codes of public behaviors. </p>
<p>Many coffee stores in Australia, for example, do not not allow people to order at the counter <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/ban-mobile-phones-retailers-say-20130703-2pbzr.html">when they are on the cellphone</a>, more <a href="http://www.emilypost.com/out-and-about/sports-and-recreation/678-cell-phones-a-golf">golf clubs</a> are banning the use of cellphones while on the course and it is illegal in <a href="http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html">38 states</a> in the US for novice drivers to use a cellphone while driving. </p>
<p>There is also the personal decision available to us all, one foreshadowed by writer and social critic Siegfried Kracauer, who lived from 1889 to 1966. In a <a href="http://monoskop.org/images/0/0f/Kracauer_Siegfried_The_Mass_Ornament_Weimar_Essays.pdf">newspaper article</a> on the impact of modernity, first published in 1924, he complained of the constant stimulation, the advertising and the mass media that all conspired to create a “permanent receptivity” that prefigures our own predicament in a world of constant texting, messaging and cellphones. </p>
<p>One response, argued Kracauer, is to surrender yourself to the sofa and do nothing, in order to achieve a “kind of bliss that is almost unearthly.”</p>
<p>One radical response is to unplug and disconnect, live in the moment and concentrate on doing one important thing at a time. Try it for an hour, then for a day. You can even call your friends to tell them about your success – just not while walking or driving, or working on your computer screen or speaking loudly in a public place.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to correct the figure regarding the number of injuries from texting and walking.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rennie Short does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As summer vacations approach, it’s worth recalling the value of disconnecting and perils of multitasking in our digitally distracted lifestyles.John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/409472015-05-05T08:31:43Z2015-05-05T08:31:43ZTeens without smartphones encounter a new digital divide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80520/original/image-20150505-969-1rmcaam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Low-income teens are unable to participate in social media conversations of their wealthier peers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/cellphone/search.html?page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=159873317">Phone image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this digital age, we have assumed that smartphones and apps are the new normal for youth. </p>
<p>A recently released Pew Research Center <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/">report</a> on teens and technology further corroborates this belief by showing that 88% of US teens have access to a mobile phone. Of these, 73% have smartphones and 15% only a basic cell phone. </p>
<p>But it’s worth pausing to consider what online participation looks like for the 15% of teens with basic cell phones or the 12% who don’t have access to any form of mobile phone and what kind of a new “digital divide” might be emerging.</p>
<p>In other words, low-income teens are unable to participate in the social media conversations of their wealthier peers. </p>
<p>Our team at the University of California, Irvine, has been conducting research and developing programs in coding and digital media for these less-connected youth. The nationally representative sample in the Pew data provides context for these populations of urban teens who we work with day-to-day in Southern California.</p>
<h2>Teens use of social media</h2>
<p>Last summer, <a href="http://boingboing.net/2014/07/07/what-open-learning-looks-l.html">we helped organize and conduct research</a> on a <a href="http://phonarnation.org/">digital storytelling course</a> for teens in South Los Angeles. The 30 teens who participated all came from low-income households, were evenly split in gender and were predominantly Latino, with some black and Asian participants. </p>
<p>We designed one program around photo-sharing apps and mobile phone cameras, as we believed that was what teens would be most comfortable doing. It turned out, however, that none of them had an Instagram account and few had ever shared a photo online. </p>
<p>We were struck by the <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/">contrast</a> between the subjects of our study and those in the Pew study.</p>
<p>More recently, we conducted interviews with 14 teens in the same demographic, who were participating in a workshop using the <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/">Scratch programming platform</a>, a creative online learning tool in which young people can develop and share their stories, animations and games.</p>
<p>When we asked the teens participating in this program about their mobile and social media use, all of them said they texted to keep in touch with friends and family. </p>
<p>Only half had a smartphone. </p>
<p>None of them used the photo-sharing tool <a href="https://instagram.com/">Instagram</a>. Only one used <a href="https://www.snapchat.com/">Snapchat</a>, another photo messaging tool. They did have Facebook accounts, but none described themselves as active on the site. In a group interview, one of the boys called out the one boy who did use Snapchat. “We are all ghosts on social media except you. You have Snapchat.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80311/original/image-20150504-8434-1k4que2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In low-income communities, teens are most likely to have only a basic cell phone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stitch/2420081/in/photolist-dppx-8QYEA8-f7Pjns-3cVAfp-d7XKrY-68eVcR-7YabCj-9xjrAd-nqQYuG-6nAguC-9qqB6m-rVU1hs-dVHDfi-hoXxkb-kr3bRZ-ctk4f1-eQZMzP-qsAcaU-6rVoDg-ouQv1p-7gw8LG-8zgMVr-r3cgHt-fmgkL8-othwJ5-iwo7A9-r6SMAR-rbJQ3j-9Mw92g-kFk9V-shS9te-qh7aqe-aUbw1a-a9oECn-cZuNjy-j2JU5-f6R3DK-pYKhSo-9p5kQ1-6KpwXx-qrgAYR-iErQPz-NfCGd-9wExRp-pEtEPW-7iA2HH-bw63y7-795PqP-5FVE8U-punrT6">Jimmy Hilario</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s notable is that these low-income teens do not use the social media in ways their wealthier peers do. One of our interviewees notes that she doesn’t use social media at all. “When I’m on my phone, I’m either reading or texting,” she said. </p>
<p>Peer groups will gravitate to the modes of communication that are most widely shared.</p>
<h2>Income differences and smartphones</h2>
<p>In low-income communities, <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/">fewer teens</a> have smartphones, so texting is the most common mode of communication. It’s no fun being on Instagram and Snapchat if your friends are not. </p>
<p>Indeed, we’ve seen <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/08/teens-are-officially-over-facebook/">proclamations in the media</a> about teenagers’ flight from Facebook and the <a href="https://medium.com/backchannel/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df945c09ac6">growing hegemony of smartphone apps</a> like Instagram and Snapchat.</p>
<p>In other words, the shift to smartphones means low-income teens are shut out of the dominant communications media of their generation.</p>
<p>These observations are <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/">backed by the Pew survey data</a>. Teens in wealthier households are more likely to have smartphones and to prefer Snapchat and Instagram. </p>
<p>Compared to those in households earning less than US$30,000 annually, twice as many teens in households earning more than $75,000 annually say they use Snapchat as their most visited website.</p>
<p>For Instagram, the differences are less pronounced but the survey shows a slight tendency for teens in higher income brackets to prefer the app. That’s not surprising given the <a href="http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/why-we-need-good-tech-that-everyone-can-afford.html/?a=viewall">high cost of mobile Internet plans</a>. Contrast that with Facebook use, which is higher among lower income teens.</p>
<p>While <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/">51% of teens </a> in households earning less than $30,000 use Facebook often, only 31% of the teens in the wealthiest households, earning more than $100,000, do so. </p>
<p>Facebook can be accessed through a shared family PC or a public library computer, making it a much more accessible platform than those that rely on smartphone connectivity for an app.</p>
<h2>An area of concern</h2>
<p>Teens’ access to Snapchat and Instagram may not seem like something we should be terribly concerned about, but it is an indicator of deeper and troubling forms of digital inequity. </p>
<p>Social digital and networked media use is where young people gain everyday fluency and comfort with the technology and social norms of our times. </p>
<p>Whether it is managing a LinkedIn network or learning to code, young people who lack digital fluency and full access will always be a step behind their more connected peers. </p>
<p>In many ways, this emerging smartphone divide is more troubling than <a href="http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fallingthru.html">the digital divide</a> we faced back in the 1990s. The digital divide at that time described the gap between those who had access to desktop computers and the Internet and those who did not.</p>
<p>Public concern led to policies and community efforts to bridge the divide through public infrastructures. Schools and libraries emerged as important <a href="http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/Equality.pdf">access points</a> for children and youth who did not have access at home. </p>
<p>Today’s smartphone divide is potentially much more difficult to bridge as it goes hand and glove with expensive consumer technologies and private infrastructure. </p>
<p>We need to address this new divide head-on before it becomes entrenched in the experiences of this rising generation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With low-income kids unable to participate in the social media conversations of their wealthier peers, a new form of digital inequity is emerging.Crystle Martin, Postdoctoral Researcher , University of California, IrvineMimi Ito, Research Director, Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.