Mobile devices during pregnancy: positive impact?
New studies debate how using technology can be beneficial for babies
Leer en Español: Dispositivos móviles durante el embarazo: ¿impacto positivo?
Among the most common risks for women during pregnancy are placental abruption, gestational diabetes, and eclampsia, or seizures during or after pregnancy. There’s a common doubt that is: is the use of mobile devises during pregnancy positive or negative for the baby?
In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers at Yale University, USA, point out that “using mobile phones during pregnancy can cause behavioral disorders in children, causing them to be disrupted and hyperactive”. However, the results and the study lack evidence and support, since the levels of radiation are directly related to the size and characteristics of the mobile device. Therefore, the degree of damage and the alteration that this generates in the organism of both children and adults is unknown. The cause most associated with these behavioral issues is related to ‘hyperactivity disorders’.
However, scientific studies published by the BMC Public Health Magazine claim that “the use of technological devices during pregnancy is not linked to, nor does it affect, the neurological development of infants”. The risks of these new technologies and mobile devices really are that, although they are very useful and effective, they cannot replace activities such as physical activity, sports, reading, communication and building a relationship with our family nucleus. These activities that strengthen the mother – child relationship, which naturally causes the fetus to respond early to the stimuli of its environment.
Jan Alexander, professor at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and lead author of the study, said: “Our research revealed for the first time that mobile use can have a positive impact. More specifically, the use of these devices during gestation, are associated with lower risks of the fetus having a low level of language or motor skills”. The study also revealed that, in their linguistics, they have 27% less ability to form complex sentences, and 31% have a lower risk of language delay.
It is clear that, while technology mobile devices are the new work method that promotes telework and labor flexibility, in health issues, mainly for pregnant women, their use does not generate adverse reactions. On the contrary, it brings a number of benefits which, in addition to other cares, trigger in thousands of benefits of the genetic and cognitive type for babies.
Latin American Post | Sebastián Muñoz Rodríguez
Copy edited by Laura Rocha Rueda
