Reasons for you to be away from handphone

A) an increased risk of car accidents.

lThe risk of a collision was about four times greater when the driver was using either a hand-free telephone or holding the phone to the ear with one hand.

lThe heaviest users have more than twice the mortality rates from car accidents than the lightest users.

B) Use of hand-held cellular phones involves placing a small transmitter which emits radio frequency radiation (microwave radiation) next to the head.

l some of the studies indicate that the microwaves emitted by the cell phones doubled the cancer cells in mice.

C) mobile phones affects brain activity.

Because the head and nervous system are still developing into the teenage years, the expert group considered that if there are any unrecognized health risks from mobile phone use, then children and young people might be more vulnerable than adults. Living tissue is vulnerable to electromagnetic fields within the frequency bands used by cell phones (from 800 to 2200 MHz), notably an increase in the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and an increased synthesis of stress proteins.

There has also been some connection between electromagnetic fields and an increased number of seizures in people with epilepsy.

D) There are cases where people feel their skin got heated up when using the cell phone. Cell phone emits electromagnetic radiation. A high amount of high frequency radiation can make our body heat up.

E) Pacemaker device is a sensitive device. Radiation emitted by cell phone is big enough to cause interference to pacemaker device.

F) Using hand phone may effect of human fertility. Radiation from hand phone can affect us if we are exposed to them constantly. For women, It is being said that cell phone usage causes sterility in women and might be the reason for birth defects and damaging the growth of embryos.(Ilori,2008). While for men, longer exposure with electromagnetic radiation emitted from cell phone resulted in larger percentage of slower sperm. The 2008 study titled “Effect of Cell Phone Usage on Semen Analysis in Men attending Infertility Clinic” concluded that the use of cell phones by men associated with a decrease in semen quality.

G) high exposure rate to hand phone on your ear constantly can affect hearing

Symptoms of Nomophobia

Do you feel anxious under these circumstances?



-- Low battery charge with no way to charge your cell phone

-- A "No Cell Phones" sign

-- No signal strength on mobile device

-- A broken or malfunctioning cell phone

-- Lost cell phone

-- Just the thought of potentially losing mobile device

-- Stolen cell phone of fear of it being stolen

-- Any situation that causes you to not be able to use your mobile device.


Be careful, if just the sheer thought of not having that communication device available to you has caused feelings that are commonly associated with anxiety and panic.

Did you even feel panic, a knot in their stomach, general agitation, or depression?


Go and Try the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LLRKPRJ

The Current Situation

So far, Singapore’s media has not reported anything on nomophobia although Singapore’s various ministers (above) have mentioned the issue in their speeches in 2004.

What is Nomophobia?

Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Many people feel this particular fear, anxiety or stress under common circumstances such as when the phone is on low battery, being stolen, no network coverage, SIM card failure and running out of pre-paid credit.

Living in this fast developing world, communications is definitely important for us to catch up with the rapid pace of our hectic life. It cannot be denied that a simple phone call really does wonders. It allows a businessman to successfully clinch a deal, helps to bridge the abyss between distant friends or relatives or hold a “phone meeting” to discuss a project, even when both parties are at different sides of the globe. As the technology of mobile phone advances rapidly, a cell phone is not merely a device to make phone calls, unlike what it was meant to be when it was first invented in the 1950s. It is evidently more than that in this 21st century of modern technology. With the launch of Iphone, a mobile phone now seems to be a magic box packed with all sorts of entertainment functions such as radio, internet access, emails, games, MP3/MP4, camera, voice recorder, alarm clock, GPS and many more. As a result of the multi-functions of mobile phones, many people unwarily rely on this small device for 24 hours a day.
Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Many people feel this particular fear, anxiety or stress under common circumstances such as when the phone is on low battery, being stolen, no network coverage, SIM card failure and running out of pre-paid credit.
According to a 2008 research conducted by a UK-based research organization, YouGov, 13 millions of Britons are estimated to be nomophobic. More than half of the 2100 surveyed mobile users admitted to not switching off their cell phones but feeling a strong anxiety whenever they are out of mobile phone contact. In another 2009 survey conducted by market research firm Synovate found that Britons are among the 2nd group of populations to surf the net and check emails through their phone the most.

However, in Singapore, Singaporeans are among the most attached to their mobile phones according to the same survey. 49 percent of them even went as far as to say that they would not be able to live without their phones. In another survey conducted by Straits Times in September 2008, nine out of the 171 Singapore teens surveyed, aged between 13 -16, admitted to carrying their mobile phones with them for 24 hours a day.
Almost every teenager in Singapore carries a mobile phone around and many of them are hooked on to this small device 24/7. In actual fact, it is not rare to observe many of them checking their mobile phones every five minutes for a text message or a missed call. More often than not, many of us also tend to subconsciously check our cell phones when we hear a ringtone in public only to realize that it is not our phone ringing. All these seemed to become so natural to us and if this is deemed as an addiction, the addiction has probably been carried too far. Singapore teenagers’ dependency on mobile phones is so great that being out of phone contact sends their stress level soaring. Therefore, there is a vital need to address this future emergency in Singapore.