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Don’t Sleep With Phone Under Your Pillow, Tech Expert Warns

Published

6 months ago

May 5, 2025

Technology advisor at TMB Tech, Akin Ibitoye, has issued a stern warning to Nigerians about the health and safety risks of sleeping with mobile devices under their pillows or beside their beds.

Speaking on the Morning Brief on Channels Television on Monday, Ibitoye highlighted the dangers posed by mobile gadgets, ranging from disrupted sleep patterns to potential explosions caused by overheating lithium-ion batteries.

“Do not sleep with your gadget under your pillow. When you sleep with your devices under your pillow, it actually affects you. You don’t know,” Ibitoye cautioned.

According to him, beyond the popular blue light emissions that interfere with the body’s circadian rhythm, an internal biological clock that regulates sleep-wake cycles and other physiological processes over a 24-hour period, influenced by light and other environmental cues, the physical presence of a mobile phone in the bedroom can reduce sleep quality, increase irritability, and in extreme cases, pose safety hazards.

“These gadgets disrupt our circadian rhythm. That’s how, when it’s dark, your body gets the signal it needs to sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, there are quite a number of things that even the medical practitioners have said could result negatively back to your body,” he explained.

He also raised concerns about the psychological effects of constant connectivity, warning against “doomscrolling”; a habit where users go online for a quick check but end up spending hours.

“We spoke about doomscrolling, where you just want to check Instagram for about five minutes, but you end up spending two hours,” he said.

Ibitoye urged Nigerians to return to using alarm clocks instead of relying on their phones to wake up.

“Before mobile phones, we had alarm clocks. The alarm clock would only sound when the time is right,” he noted, adding that phones attract unnecessary distractions at night with pop-ups and vibrations.

Addressing those who claim they need their phones nearby for work or emergencies, he said, “Unless it’s absolutely tied to your work, you can do without your phone.”

Beyond sleep concerns, Ibitoye warned of physical hazards such as overheating and potential fire risks. He cited past incidents involving phone batteries that exploded due to heat buildup, especially when left under pillows or bedcovers.

“These batteries, lithium-ion batteries, you notice they don’t allow them on airplanes for good reasons. This tiny marvel of technology can explode anytime. If you keep your phone under your pillow, your phone actually gets heated up,” he said.

He referenced a viral video of a woman whose phone exploded while she was making a call.

“Sleeping with your phone or your tablet under your pillow is actually a huge risk that you do not want to take.”

On the subject of radiation, Ibitoye said that even when a phone appears off, it can still send and receive signals.

“These electromagnetic devices being so close, actually affect the electrical signals in our brain,” he explained, urging frequent phone users to opt for wired or wireless earphones and keep phones away from their heads.

For those living in tight spaces or unable to switch off their phones, Ibitoye advised using airplane mode at night.

“If you cannot afford to switch it off, put it in airplane mode. No call will come in, no SMS, no notification, but your alarm will still go off.”

He concluded with a reminder: “As ubiquitous as technology is, it can be harmful to our bodies with extended usage.”

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UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

“He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

“He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

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Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

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Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

Published

1 day ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP