Professor Tom Butler of University College Cork has published a very informative article titled ‘Clear Evidence of Smartphone Dangers Emerging from Children’s Wi-Fi’ where he discusses the risks that digital technologies pose to children. Children explained. In this article, we briefly share Professor Butler’s recommendations for minimizing Wi-Fi harm to infants and children.
Advice for parents
Parents and guardians of children must be serious in performing their duties and responsibilities towards children and apply the following recommendations:
- Educating children and adolescents about the health risks of all smart devices.
- Limit the kids to 30 minutes not only on the computer but also on any device that uses Wi-Fi.
- All devices and devices that have an LED display must have a blue light filter. Software like F-Lux helps you adjust your device’s screen brightness automatically. Reducing the amount of screen light prevents the reduction of melatonin in the brain and prevents you or your child from falling asleep.
- The Wi-Fi, 2/3/4G or Bluetooth functionality of the phone does not have to be always on. These items should only use when necessary. In addition, the health and safety information that usually comes with cell phones indicates that a cell phone should not be held or operated less than 2.5 cm from the body.
- Remember that the Wi-Fi safety standard for all devices is to keep them at a distance of 20 cm from the body and work with them for a maximum of 30 minutes.
- Given the danger that Wi-Fi enabled devices such as smartphones or iPads pose to young children, always keep in mind that when you give such devices to your child to play with in the back seat of the car. a cigarette for smoking.
- If children or teens have access to cell phones or devices with Wi-Fi, they should not use these devices unsupervised and alone.
- Headphones must use for all phone calls.
- If your child uses your phone to play, you must put it on airplane mode and then give it to him.
- Never place Wi-Fi routers and modems in the room or near sleeping areas of children. The Wi-Fi modem must turn off at night. Never place Wi-Fi enabled devices, including baby room monitors, in a child’s bedroom.
- Minimize the use of all IoT enabled devices such as smart meters, virtual assistants, Hive, Chromecast, WiFi dongles, etc.
The danger of Wi-Fi waves to the fetus
An article published in ScienceDirect in 2011 titled “Risk of Radiation Exposure to Babies and Their Mothers” showed that the waves are very dangerous for babies. In fact, the results of this article showed that the development of fetuses is very sensitive to radiation and vulnerable to its dangers. Therefore, the fetus is very vulnerable when exposed to EMF radiation.
Another 2012 paper on unborn children showed that babies who expod to high levels of electromagnetic waves in their mothers’ wombs were 69% more likely than other babies to have problems with overweight and obesity. Also that the higher the exposure to electromagnetic fields, the higher the risk.
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Findings from another study published in 2013 titled “Lifestyle Risk Factors Associated with Threatened Miscarriage: A Case and Control Study” showed that the risk of miscarriage is increased due to the use of cell phones and computers.
How to reduce the risks of Wi-Fi waves for infants and children?
The results of studies conducted in the past eight years around the world show that electromagnetic field waves are very dangerous for children, but despite these warnings, most children who are born are still exposed to electromagnetic field radiation from the fetal period.
Although all of these children do not show symptoms and problems caused by electromagnetic field radiation, there is no guarantee about their hidden injuries.
Therefore, it is necessary for parents who are going to have a baby soon or have young and young children to take various precautionary measures to prevent surf risks in the long term.
Pregnant women advice to discuss this issue with their husband or partner and try to reduce the use of mobile phones and Wi-Fi since the diagnosis of pregnancy. Other precautions that can take in this regard are:
1- Increase the distance of the router or modem from you
The router should be as far away from you as possible while carrying.
Studies have shown that increasing the distance even by 30 cm from the source of EMF radiation, can significantly reduce the amount of exposure to the waves. So put the router in a room or place that you don’t usually go into.
2- Set the router usage time
We are used to keeping the prompt all day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So we can use Wi-Fi whenever we want.
But now is the time to wake up and make a change in your habits. Using cell phones and Wi-Fi devices puts the whole family, especially children, at risk. We need to reduce the uptime of routers.
Limit router or modem power to certain hours of the day. Also, if you reduce the number of devices connected to your Wi-Fi network, the amount of EMF radiation that reaches your body will also be reduced.
3- Say no to cell phones
During your 9 months of pregnancy, treat cell phones as your worst enemy. Even cordless phones emit electromagnetic waves. Therefore, the best way to communicate with your relatives until the birth of the baby will be a landline phone.
Giving up your cell phone, having no access to the virtual world, or not watching YouTube videos may seem overwhelming at first. But remember the good old days when none existed and yet we didn’t feel the need for them.
So to keep your baby healthy, go back to the good old days.
Using Wi-Fi after the baby is born
In the first few months after the baby is born, you need to follow the above restrictions.
The first few months of a baby’s life are very important because your baby is physically vulnerable at this stage. After about six months or so, you can gradually return to your old life, but you should still be careful.
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