Can You Resist The Lure Of The Mobile Phone?
from the temptation... dept
Robert J. Samuelson, writing for Newsweek, explains why he'll never get a mobile phone. He lists out most of the mobile phone annoyances we all know about already (being interrupted at the wrong time, private conversations being made public, always being accessible, etc.) while still admitting that phones are useful in certain circumstances. He pretty much ignores the more innovative ways that mobile phones have changed lives (such as by saving them) or how people act (such as making it possible for groups to gather in a much more ad hoc manner) which is normal for those who simply assume that a mobile phone is just like a phone, but mobile. However, in the end, he's basically taking a stand against the tide. While it's great for him if he can keep it up, it really doesn't impact anyone else (unless they're trying to reach him). I have nothing against anyone who chooses not to buy a mobile phone if they don't think it's necessary. However, to think that it's somehow noble to stand there and declare publicly that you have no need for the technology just looks silly. If you don't need it, don't buy it.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Mobile Phone radiation
This doesn't mean that I am special, it is only because I am used to be much more relaxed, and being more intuitive. I see the same happening to people using these things a lot, like managers or people watching television all day, but they are usually stressed and not intuitive anway. So there is hardly any change for these people.
Because I have studied electromagnetism during my electrotechnics course on the university, I have learned some things about these radio-waves. These radio-waves do influence our cells, not by breaking any chemical bounds, but by stressing the chemical reactions that happen continuously in active cells. And by influencing tresholdvalues in the brain-cells.
This means that only cells that are active and sensitive will be influenced. The cells will be "stressed" if theire chemical reactions are pushed or influenced in some way. Sometimes cells can react because of a single molecule. These cells can be found in the brain, in the skin ("sensors") in the immunity system. This exactly explains my problems.
The official words from the safety institutes is different: "there is no effect, because the heating caused by the radiotion is neglectable."
This is partly true, there is no heating effect, but there are other effects which are completely neglected. While technology is able to make antenna's smaller, and brain researchers find circular circuits in the brain that may act like antenna's, most institutes and researchers in this direction are able to stay with the heating effect.
It's like saying: "it's safe to smoke sigarettes, because you can still breath air, and will therefore not sufficate."
Greetings, Dirk
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I fought it for years
What put it over the top finally was when I went with my fiancee to replace her phone and they offered us that deal where any calls to cellphones from the same company would be free, so I bought the bare bones package.
However since I still have to wear my pager for work, I refuse to give out the number to anyone from work and only to a select few friends.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who is the phone for?
Is the phone for you, or for everyone else? I bought a phone last year, but my position is that the phone is for my convenience, not anyone else's. It's listed on my vCard, but it's usually set on "silent", and frequently just turned off. If a call is coming in, and it's inconvenient for me to answer it, I have a "Decline" button that's very useful. If the caller can't get through, they can always send me a text message or leave a voice mail.
My position is that a mobile phone is only as annoying as you allow it to be. For me, there are huge safety/emergency benefits to having a cell phone with me. For everyone else, me having a cell phone gives them the possibility that I'll be more accessible than I used to be when I was out: not at all.
For the person that seems to experience side-effects from cell phone use, I might suggest a prescription for 50mg of placebo like Sucrosa (see your doctor), and perhaps a wired hands-free headset. RF radiation decreases dramatically with distance, so keeping it by your hip instead of by the side of your head while talking will reduce your exposure to a tiny fraction of what you'd get otherwise.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Self Righteous Blabber
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Luddite
[ link to this | view in chronology ]