Are cell phones the new cigarettes?
Do you remember when everyone smoked, everywhere, and all the time? Well I’m too young to really remember but after watching a few episodes of Mad Men, I am reminded of that generation and their smoking habits. In the 50’s, no one believed that smoking was bad for you.
Fast forward fifty years to a society that encourages people to buy cell phones for every member of the family. It’s no longer uncommon for children in elementary school to have a cellphone. Now I know there have been a lot of studies done on the radiation that emits from cell phones and to whether or not they can cause cancer, but from what I am reading lately, all of these studies are statistically useless…
“For one thing, they surveyed too few people. Additionally, the majority of studies focused on the effects of cellphone use after several years, but in most cases brain cancer takes a decade to develop.” - Popular Science (Jan’09)
So now the real results of ten to twelve year studies are starting to trickle out. Some countries have already banned children under the age of 14 from having cellphones, and many more are joining in. What scares me most is that in these studies, they define ‘regular cellphone use’ as once a week. Under this definition, and in our society, every kid over the age of two is more than a 'regular' user of a cellphone.
Nicotine or not, I’m not even going to begin to discuss the addictiveness of the cell. Crackberry anyone?
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Dude, I totally agree with you, I'm 27 years old and have never been a cell phone user and O am extremely proud of that fact.
ReplyDeleteI think that common sense tells us that something that uses that much power and radiates energy should probably not be inches from your brain for extended periods of time.
i was so inspired by this blog- i decided to replace my cell phone with a beer and Girl Talk. so brain cancer from cell phone use takes a decade to develop? i mean really now...they could of picked another method of population control...i knew i wasn't just losing brain cells to pot.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit weird to see 7 year olds using better cellphones than I do. I understand teens having them, that way you can keep up with where they are and what they're up to much easier. But below that age it seems ridiculous, by the time they're 20 the phones will be a park of their jaw bone. Evolution.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see a correlation. I think similarly to cigarettes there is an aspect of peer pressure as well. I remember I was the last person in my 8th grade class to get a cellphone and it felt embarrassing. Despite the embarrassment, I was really lucky cause I do not feel dependent on my cellphone, unlike many people who grew up with one. Then there is the decreased health risk as well. Thank you hippie parents!
ReplyDeleteWithout my crackberry and brickbreaker, I'd be lost all during school. Oh, and the millions of emails I get too. It's a life line of mine, and I'm only 16! Though, I never do talk on it... Weird. BB messenger is the best thing on a BB too!
ReplyDeleteI often ponder why an 11 year old would even need a mobile phone in the first place, Or any child under the age of at least 15 for that matter.
ReplyDeleteWhat's scarier are these new phones that are continuously connected to the internet to receive emails.
The e-mail thing is the best part about the black berry! I get around 15-30 emails a day, some important while some not, and I like checking them through out the day and replying to them instead of going home and spending a good 20-30 minutes deleting/reading/replying to them. Though it makes up for texting as I never text.
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