Disposition of Mobile Phones among University Students in Nigeria
Keywords:
SAR, Social Computing, behavioural tendency, health hazardAbstract
A number of studies on Mobile Phone in Nigeria focused on its usage to alleviate some of the problems in the country. Mobile phones have become an essential personal belonging among the Nigerian students. There is a need to look into possible problems created by the advent of this ICT tool after a decade of its introduction. This study examined at behavioral tendency of mobile phone usage among University students in Nigeria from Social Computing perspective. A survey-based study was carried out among 2000 students of Obafe mi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria. The study confirmed that Nigerian students also associate some health risks to mobile phone usage. SAR value of a generic phone was simulated using the SEMCAD X V14.8 software used over a Phantom human head in a 6 minutes continuous call. The result of the simulation showed that for a 10g tissue the Max. SAR value is 1.74W/Kg which is still within the allowable limit of 2.0W/Kg specified for 10g tissue. Hence the study has further confirmed that no health hazard has been found with the use of mobile phones. The study suggested that the infiltration of mobile phones has altered the academic and personal life style of the students which may in turn have adverse effect on their academic performance. Further study is needed to establish the extent of damage to the academic performance of the Nigerian students. Further research is also needed to determine the effect of proliferation of foreign-used phones as well as supposedly new but not world standard phones on Nigerian Environment.
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