To, The Director of Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

ANALYSIS REPORT OF INCREASE IN MOBILE PHONE USE IN RECENT YEARS A mobile phone is also known as a cell phone. The name indicates that the mobile phone does not have to stay in one location. These phones operate without a cord of the necessity Mobile phones are considered as a necessity nowadays. It is a powerful form of communication. It represents functionality and style in one small package. Billions of people worldwide are now owners of cell phones. Interestingly enough, based on some studies, some countries in the European region now have more mobile phones than people. Meaning, the actual number of handset subscriptions in that particular country was bigger than the actual number of people living in it. Nowadays, virtually everyone carries a mobile phone, including younger children. They have become the most important item an individual can own. They serve as a communication tool used to make and receive calls as well as send text messages, listen to music, surf the internet and even play mobile games. Mobile phones are now so common that they hardly attract attention. People have started understanding the value, convenience and ease of owning a mobile phone. In earlier days, very few people could think of buying mobile phone but today looking at the dropped prices, almost every individual can afford to purchase it. It is fascinating to see how mobile phone technology has transformed society and the way of doing business over the past 25 years. I remember when a telephone has been just a telephone, something that allowed you to contact someone if they happened to be at home or in the office when you called. It certainly wasn't the easiest way to stay in touch or conduct business by relying on landlines alone. With this in mind, it's no wonder mobile ownership soared in the 1990s with more than 43m mobile phone users by 2000. Everyone wanted to enjoy the sense of freedom and convenience the technology offered. But with new technology comes to cultural shifts. Nothing has had a bigger impact on the business world than mobile phones or indeed our entire society. Just look at how public transport has adapted, for instance. We now have phone chargers, Wi-Fi and 'quiet carriages' on most of our kopitiam.

Take smart phones like the iPhone, for instance. A 'touchscreen' gadget that allows easy web browsing and convenient access to emails and social media accounts. We can now stay in touch and do business wherever we are in the world, all in the palm of our hand. That's whether we're travelling to meetings; out on sales calls or working from home, we can make the most productive use of our time. Mobile phones are really very important in our lives that we cannot think our life without them. It is long-range, portable electronic device used for mobile communication. Mobile phones are affordable, easy to use and comfortable. They manage our every task in the office or at home. They are not just the communication medium but also the computational medium. They are equipped with the high-end features and specifications that it really makes us feel great having them in our hands. They have completely intruded in our lives and are now very close to our hearts. In present scenario mobile technology is exploring newer shores in innovations with the help of extensive research and development. Today, it's promise to make computing handy, affordable and fun to use, is attracting imaginations and thoughts of visionaries belonging to the business domain. But, is this futuristic technology reliable and secure. A research from startacellphonebusiness.com also reveals that, more than 1,000 cell phones are activated each minute. Business is ever-increasing and widely enlarging where both clients' and customers' do not hesitate to expect better than the best services. So, to manage all, managers and execs are finding themselves in a chaos of travelling, touring, meeting, schedules and instant decisionmaking process. Therefore, an innovative mobile application on a tablet or a smart phone is not just making their work easier but also liberates them to control and manage workflow on the go. This workspace enlargement is strategic in any progressive and multi-national business organization, where decisions should be made on time. The development of mobile phones brought convenient and advantages to the world. Communication between people and people are easier and faster. Though, the

disadvantages brought along with the fast grown technology cannot be ignored. These problems not only influenced people personally but also the society. The Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology identified a source of cell phone radiation that may constitute a public health problem. However studies have shown mobile phone radiation does produce biological changes in humans such as changes in brain temperature and activity as well as blood pressure changes. Others accumulating evidence indicate that microwave radiation from mobile phones may cause serious diseases and disturbances in the physiology. This includes an increased cancer risk and genetic damage, disturbed brain function and other effects. Heavy use of a mobile phone can damage sperm, according to new research in the United states. A study into men with fertility problems showed that those who used the mobile for more than four hours a day had a lower sperm count. Some people appear to have an almost pathological emotional attachment to their cell phones and there is a fascinating suggestion that cell radiation pulses might actually be addictive to the human brain.. We can't save those who would rather die than switch. But ethics compelled us to ensure that all reasonable people have access to the basic scientific facts. A cell phone has a microwave transmitter and it should bear a cancer warning. Microwave energy oscillates at millions to billions of cycles per second. The Journal of Cellular Biochemistry reports that these frequencies cause cancer and other diseases by interfering with cellular DNA and its repair mechanisms. Microwave promotes rapid cell aging. Italian scientists have recently demonstrated that cell phone radiation makes cancerous cells grow aggressively. Cordless phones marked 900 megahertz or 2.4 gigahertz emit the same dangerous microwave radiation as cell phones. Several studies have been conducted which look at the relationship between mobile phone use and sleep disorders. A recent study showed that those people who use their mobile phones shortly before going to bed will have a harder time unwinding and falling asleep than those people who put their phones away earlier in the day. A common problem found in people,

particularly in teenagers, is that those people who leave their phones on at night will be regularly woken up by calls and texts which interrupt sleep and can cause a number of health problems. Mobile phones can cause of social problems such as a distraction in education. They can disturb teachers and students. For example, when the students were working hard on a piece of work, concentrating hard, and a person's phone ring, it disrupts the whole class. You may become sidetracked or the teacher may be interrupted during speaking to the class. Thus teaching would be constantly disrupted if this kept happening. Also, mobile phones provide a large temptation to cheat on tests. Students who have their cell phone in class can use it to cheat. They can text another person and ask them the questions on the test, or the assignment they are given. This causes a problem because it can be very simple to do. Teachers pay attention to their students, but they cannot watch all of them at the same time. During a test it is easier to catch a student who is text messages, but during regular class it can be easy to miss. Cell phones enable students to cheat fairly easily. Students go to school to learn, not to waste time playing games or cheating on tests. Also younger students may not be properly educated on phone usage. Most phones nowadays have internet access to them. Students can access sites which they should not see, like pornography. Cyber bullying is also another issue among the disadvantages of mobile phones. Cyber bullying is a bullying act using offensive words and behaviour via online chatting, emails or SMS text messages. It was shown that the psychological effects of cyber bullying are much severe that face-to-face bullying. This problem has now been among teenagers especially the secondary students. There are still many problems causing but the new technology. Mobile phones with camera functions are causing privacy problems. This is because many people have misused the usage on the camera phones such as using it as a hidden camera to take photos which are private. The spreading of computer viruses is also a problem for this new technology. Just like computer viruses, these viruses will affect the normal usage on mobile phones making them to malfunction and causing distractions. Mobile phone addiction is a big social problem. Psychiatrists believe that mobile phone addiction is becoming one of the biggest non-drug addictions in the 21st century. Along with the

age drop of the mobile phone users and the ease of prepaid method provide by the system operators, most teenagers now own their own mobile phone and network service. Teenagers are engaged on their mobile phones all the time, no matter on phone calls, using SMS text messages, personalizing the mobile phones with ringtones and pictures. Besides this, many people are running after the latest mobile phones. New models of mobile phones are released almost every day. In order to get up-to-date, people tend to change their mobile phones once in a while. These became habits among the mobile phone users causing them to spend unnecessary cost on mobile bills and costs. Mobile phone addiction is a big social problem. Psychiatrists believe that mobile phone addiction is becoming one of the biggest non-drug addictions in the 21st century. Along with the age drop of the mobile phone users and the ease of prepaid method provide by the system operators, most teenagers now own their own mobile phone and network service. Teenagers are engaged on their mobile phones all the time, no matter on phone calls, using SMS text messages, personalizing the mobile phones with ringtones and pictures etc. Besides this, many people are running after the latest mobile phones. New models of mobile phones are released almost every day. In order to get up-to-date, people tend to change their mobile phones once in a while. These became habits among the mobile phone users causing them to spend unnecessary cost on mobile bills and costs. Several studies have confirmed the seriousness of using a mobile phone while driving and one of such studies suggests that the danger of using the phone while driving is no less than the risk of driving under the influence of alcohol. The use of mobile phone while driving is one of the biggest risks that lead to the occurrence of many accidents. Using a mobile phone while driving will lead to lose the driver's control of the vehicle, thus results in accidents that kill or hurt a lot of innocent people. Engaging on mobile phones while driving is against road manners. Driving needs concentration and using mobile handsets will snatch the drivers attention. Scientific research in this area has shown that the risks of using a mobile phone while driving double and it also constitute a health hazard to the driver himself as the harmful emissions from mobile handsets multiply in the car with the doors closed, whether it is parked or moving. As well human brain cannot perform two separate tasks at the same time with concentration. Using a mobile phone while driving distracts driver in many ways. Physical distraction is caused by

handling the phone while driving. For example, removing hands from the steering wheel to dial a phone number, to answer or end a call. Visual distraction is caused by the amount of time the drivers have their eyes off the road. The cognitive distraction refers to lapses in attention and judgment. This happens when the driver has to perform two mental tasks at the same time. Having a conversation competes with the demands of driving, with your attention often changing from driving to the conversation. This results in unsafe driving and increases the risk of a crash. The symptoms caused by the radiation of mobile phones are one of the most argued problems. Many scientists believe that the radiation from the mobile phones may cause the users to have different symptoms such as headache, earaches, blurring of vision and even causing cancer. Though, these problems are still under research. Mobile phone users are advised to reduce the usage on mobile phones if it is possible. There are things to do to reduce the exposure to radiation like keeping the phone away from the body and using special hands-free devices to talk that can reduce the risk. According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and others, the research to date does not show that mobile phone radiofrequency emissions have adverse health effects but there is not enough information at this point to conclude that these products are not without risk. While most epidemiological and laboratory studies related to the radio frequency (RF) emissions from mobile phones have found no adverse health effects, the results of some studies have raised questions that require further research. There are many ways to reduce the exposure to RF radiation by choosing a mobile phone model that has a low Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), which refers to the amount of RF radiation absorbed by body tissues. Using a landline phone if one is available. The mobile phone users can cut short the conversation or using a hands-free kit which available in the mobile phone shop. There many ways to overcome cell phone addiction. One of the ways is spending more time doing things that need to be finished. Limited the phone call and used it when it is necessary or emergencies only. Disable all extra features, like any text message plans or ring tone download packages. Settle for a pay-as-you-go plan as a last resort. It is similar to a portable pay

phone and a calling card in one - in order to use a certain amount of minutes, you'll need to pay for that amount. It then disables your phone when you reach the maximum of minutes. In order to better determine, control and reduce the effects of mobile phone use on road safety, there are following recommendations for examples, make drivers more aware of the dangers of mobile phone use and other various distracting activities. We also should support the policies like those imposing a complete ban on the use of mobile phone while driving and other kinds of policies contributing to the corporate safety culture. Use the technology against technology principle: technology could also provide the answer, at least partly, to solving the problem of driver distraction. Be clear to the children that a cell phone is a privilege, not a right. Let your child know you will periodically check their cell phone. Make sure you have access to their password and can look at their pictures and text messages, and check apps they have downloaded. Be clear that a cell phone is a privilege, not a right. Let your child know you will periodically check their cell phone. Make sure you have access to their password and can look at their pictures and text messages, and check apps they have downloaded. Be clear that a cell phone is a privilege, not a right. Let your child know you will periodically check their cell phone. Make sure you have access to their password and can look at their pictures and text messages, and check apps they have downloaded. The school can allow the students to use the mobile phone after the school ended. With the help of the mobile phone, students can be in touch with their parents and inform them about the changed programs or if they are coming late. Other than that, to save the cost the students children can be given the simpler version of mobile phones which will keep them connected to their parents. Mobile phones are the perfect way to stay connected with others and provide the user with a sense of security. In the event of emergency, having a cell phone can allow help to reach you quickly and could possibly save lives. People use the mobile phones as their personal diaries and in a good manner and continue to make it improve.

Prepared by, _________________________ (ZULKIFLI IBRAHIM) Manager. (2711 words)

Bibliography 1. blog.dialaphone.co.uk/2009/07/31/10-health-problems...by-mobile-phones

2.Hancock, P.A., Lesch, M. & Simmons, L. (2003). The distraction effects of Phone use during a crucial driving manoeuvre. In: Accident Analysis and Prevention, vol. 35, no. 4, p. 501-514. 3. Horberry, T. et al. (2001). Drivers' use of handheld mobile phones in Western Australia. In: Transportation Research Part F, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 213218. 4. Houwen, H.K. van der, Hazevoet, A.M. & Hendriks, V.M.W. (2004). PROV 2003 - Periodiek Regionaal Onderzoek Verkeersveiligheid. TT 04-028. Traffic Test, Veenendaal. 5. life.familyeducation.com/cellular-telephones/school/51264.htm 6. The Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 7. www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/.../pages/Mobile_phones_and_your_health 8. www.startacellphonebusiness.com