A new study reveals that the number of people who get hurt using their cell phones is increasing year by year, and that it is especially the arrival of smart devices that has caused a considerable increase in this type of injury.
In the United States, over 76,000 people traveled to the emergency between January 1998 and December 2017 after suffering a head or neck injury using their cell phone, according to a study published by the medical journal JAMA Otolaryngology -Head & Neck Surgery .
The incidence of these injuries increased more than 10 times during this period. Fewer than 2000 people were injured in this way each year until 2007, when the first iPhone entered the market. This figure has risen to more than 6,000 in 2017.
Although mobile phones were gaining popularity at the time, their functions were limited and they were less likely to be major distractions than modern smart phones , the study says.
More than half of distraction-related injuries are associated with using the phone while driving. The majority of distraction injuries (60%) occurred in the 13-29 age group.
Nearly half of the injuries (47%), however, were caused by the phone itself, for example because of the explosion of the battery or an accidental dropping of the device on the face.
Unusual fact: a hundred of the wounds were caused by the mobile game Pokémon Go, which was a real world phenomenon when it was released in 2016.
It is estimated that about 96% of Americans have a smart phone.
Tammy Fantesco is a reporter for Tech Droid. After graduating from Alliance Manchester Business School, Tammy got an internship at Channel 4 where she worked on social media outreach. Tammy was also was a columnist for the Huff Post UK. Tammy mostly mobile phone news.
