Sunday, March 14, 2021

Smartphones can do you physical harm, Israeli study finds

 I started up a second twitter account for science, spirituality, metaphysics, art, music, and health, and it's the best thing I've done as it keeps me out of my politics account a lot.


Browsing social media apps on smartphones makes you more likely to grind your teeth, sleep poorly and suffer from jaw pain, an Israeli study has found. ...


The Telegraph

Smartphones can do you physical harm, Israeli study finds


5 comments:

Matt Franko said...

Except for Huawei right?

lastgreek said...

My new smartphone is bigger and heavier. Feel like I'm walking around with a tablet :(

Peter Pan said...

Now you know how Donald Trump feels ;)

Ahmed Fares said...

re: correlation is not causation

"According to Tel Aviv University, 24 per cent of regular smartphone users experienced teeth grinding during the day, compared to just six per cent of kosher phone users."

It may have nothing to do with phones. This from the Times of Israel:

The appalling behaviour of sections of the Charedi community in Israel during the pandemic lockdown proves once and for all that the majority has nothing in common with elements of the minority. They are the enemy within.

This criminal conduct stems from the fact that some do not recognise the legitimacy of Israel. For them Israel is only a tool to advance their objectives. Since this life is only a corridor to the afterlife they could not care less about their image in the eyes of the others, be them secular citizens, “normal” religious people, or the goyim. In the promised land they enjoy exemptions from work, military service and paying tax while benefiting from generous child allowances, accommodation subsidise, free children day-care centres, budgeted yeshivas, and unlimited access to health services.


source:Two state solution? It’s already here

Kosher users lead less stressful lives, courtesy of the State of Israel, therefore, they grind their teeth less. That explains it just as well.

Ahmed Fares said...

re: lurking variables

Low birth-weight paradox

The low birth-weight paradox is an apparently paradoxical observation relating to the birth weights and mortality rate of children born to tobacco smoking mothers. Low birth-weight children born to smoking mothers have a lower infant mortality rate than the low birth weight children of non-smokers. It is an example of Simpson's paradox.

At first sight these findings seemed to suggest that, at least for some babies, having a smoking mother might be beneficial to one's health. However the paradox can be explained statistically by uncovering a lurking variable between smoking and the two key variables: birth weight and risk of mortality. Both variables are acted on independently by smoking and other adverse conditions — birth weight is lowered and the risk of mortality increases. However, each condition does not necessarily affect both variables to the same extent.

The birth weight distribution for children of smoking mothers is shifted to lower weights by their mothers' actions. Therefore, otherwise healthy babies (who would weigh more if it were not for the fact their mother smoked) are born underweight. However, they still have a lower mortality rate than children who have other, more severe, medical reasons why they are born underweight.

In short, smoking is harmful in that it contributes to low birth weight which has higher mortality than normal birth weight, but other causes of low birth weight are generally more harmful than smoking.
—Wikipedia