A new study has found that smartphones should always be kept at a safe distance from pacemakers and defibrillators or there could be a risk of some interference.

The ubiquitousness of smartphones in modern times creates some potential problems for those who rely on their phones 24/7 and like to keep them close by at all times, according to a HealthDay News report.

But everyone who has a smartphone risks a small chance that it will interfere with a cardiac device that they rely on if it gets too close, according to the senior author of the report, Christof Kulb, who is the former head of electrophysiology at the German Heart Centre.

It doesn’t mean you should get rid of your phone if you have one, but you shouldn’t place it directly over the cardiac device, so definitely don’t keep it in a pocket near where it is located. Instead, hold the smartphone in the ear opposite the side of the pacemaker or defibrillator.

Pacemakers can “misinterpret” electromagnetic signals from elsewhere, which can cause them to stop working. That can be bad for those who rely on these devices to keep their hearts working as they should.

It may be only a brief pause, but people can faint, and the pacemakers themselves might interpret signals from the smartphone as a life-threatening abnormal health rhythm resulting in a painful shock to the patient.