Seoul National University Hospital in Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province recently surveyed 276 freshmen who own mobile phones from a high school in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province and published the results on Thursday.

According to the results, 8.3 percent of all students answered that they "really get worried without their mobile phones," and 20.6 percent of the total said "worried," which clearly indicates that many youngsters seem to have mobile phone addiction syndrome.

Surprisingly, 34.8 percent of people were suffering from physical discomforts due to the long hours of cellular phone use. 12.3 percent said that they suffered from hearing a drumming in the air and 10.1 percent of the students said they feel sickness from TMI (Text Message Injury), which happens when a person uses a keypad for a long period of time doing games or sending messages. They feel pain in their wrists and shoulders.

Prof. Jung Dong-sun of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital noted, "Some foreign investigations tell us that over-use of mobile phones may lead to hypochondria, anxiety and insomnia just like Internet addiction."

He added that "Electromagnetic waves produced from the phones could possibly create an abnormality of hormone secretion and this is why people should use them selectively, when only they are needed."

(Lee Sung-hun, yigija@chosun.com )