Countries should impose restrictions on the use of smartphones and other hand-held devices to reduce the harm they cause to young people, a senior figure at the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, WHO Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems, compared the excessive use of communication devices to tobacco addiction.
“Maybe we need to think about where it is appropriate to use digital devices, and maybe it’s also time to start thinking about places where certain digital devices should not be used,” she told Politico magazine on the sidelines of the European Health Forum in Gastein, Austria on Wednesday.
The measures could include age limits and “no-go zones,” similar to the bans on smoking in certain areas, she said.
“As with anything else, you can use these tools well and effectively,” Azzopardi-Muscat noted. “But we have to be careful, because we have a portion of the population who are reporting…