When Mobile Phones (Could, Maybe If It Benefits Us) Maim

from the bias?-what's-that? dept

Fri, Mar 17th 2006 3:42pm — Carlo Longino

A stunning new piece of research from the UK says that 78% of mobile phone users aged 16-24 "reported backache, neckache and headaches". What's stunning aren't the results, after all, everybody gets headaches once in a while, but rather the way the survey's being used. Apparently some unnamed experts say all that can be caused by "holding your mobile phone between your ear and neck while trying to do other tasks simultaneously". Did we mention the research was sponsored by a company that makes hands-free headsets? Notice they don't say the people who answered the survey didn't say that holding their phone in such a way caused them problems, they just tacked that expert bit on in the next sentence of their press release to try and indicate some causality that they probably never even tested. Biased surveys are nothing new, but this one really is scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's even got the requisite quote from a company manager saying how everything would be okay, if just every young person in Britain would buy one of their headsets. Bet they'd still get the occasional headache, though.

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41 Comments

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dorpus, 17 Mar 2006 @ 4:27pm

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
In a class I'm taking right now, we had an MD expert on carpal tunnel syndrome give a lecture on the topic. In the 20 years and 10,000 patients that he has tested for the condition, a grand total of one patient tested positive.

That hasn't stopped companies from making millions with fake "testing devices" to screen workers for the condition. Contrary to popular myth, computer work is among the least stressful occupations on wrist health. Other occupations like lumberjacks or carpentry have a far higher rate of problems, and such workers are recommended computer jobs to recover their wrist health.
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Mc Donald, 17 Mar 2006 @ 8:14pm

food
They should also include how much High Fructose Corn Syrup they consume. I think this i more of the cause of the headaches and migrains.
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Mahmoud, 17 Mar 2006 @ 11:41pm

Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
It is true that mobile phones do cause very severe brain damage over a period of 2hrs. of continous using ( talking on the mobile for 2 hours ). Although most people only use mobile phones for an average of 4 minutes per call, you still have a chance of getting severe brain damage very easily without being the user of the phone yourself. Supose you are sitting in a room in which there are 10 people sitting and about 7 of them carry moblie phones. The waves will be more concentrated and you will be likely to get brain damage faster than if you are even talking on the phone. Unfortanately, in my country there are families in which every member carries atleast 1 mobile phone, and I can link this to the number of kids who are even born handicapped or mentally disabled!!
I think that headaches are nothing but the begining to whats coming next...
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dorpus, 18 Mar 2006 @ 12:45am

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
Then can you show me any respectable, peer-reviewed medical studies that support this notion? (I do not mean small studies done in Finland, Jordan, or those kind of countries.)
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A Funny Guy / The Poison Pen, 18 Mar 2006 @ 2:49am

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
Are you stark raving mad....

No I've changed my mind......

This rubbish is not worth a response from me
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NOCcer, 18 Mar 2006 @ 5:20am

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
Most any phone conversation that lasts two hours causes brain damage from the sheer stupidity of the content of that call.
I can't count how many times (oh crap are the brain cells dying in that large a quantity??) I've walked out of a 2+ hour conference call and had severe headaches.
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ehrichweiss, 18 Mar 2006 @ 7:54am

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
They couldn't even cook an egg with 2 cell phones 1 inch away from the egg...so brain damage isn't gonna happen in 2 hours unless it's because you were smoking crack while on the phone.
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Patrick Miltner, 18 Mar 2006 @ 8:14am

aches/pains
Last winter I almost always carried my cell phone in the leg pocket of my cargo pants. Towards the end of spring, I was starting to get muscle twitching right in the region where my cell phone was resting against my leg. Lo and behold, now that I don't carry it on my body, the twitching has stopped. The same goes for my father - He stopped carrying his phone on his belt because he was getting little spasms around his waistline. Once he put the phone in his briefcase during the work day, it stopped. There's something to be said for mobile phones causing strange sensations, but as far as brain damage and chronic headaches go, I think that's a little exaggerated.
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Brandy, 18 Mar 2006 @ 10:40am

Re: aches/pains
Was the twitching from the cell phone...or from something constantly vibrating against your leg? If you carried a vibrator around instead for a couple months I'm pretty sure the same thing would happen.
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Saint Jerome, 18 Mar 2006 @ 11:58am

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
Are you kidding me? The "waves" or radiation from phones DO NOT CAUSE BRAIN DAMAGE. That has been pretty well established. It is much more dangerous to stand under power lines and we're pretty much under them 24/7, and it has still never even been proven that they cause serious problems.
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Billy, 18 Mar 2006 @ 1:24pm

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
Wow, that has to be the most addlepated notion I've ever heard. I wonder what other rediculious things exist in your world. Thank you sir for opening your mouth and removing all doubt.
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Gargoyle, 18 Mar 2006 @ 7:36pm

Re: aches/pains
The same thing happened to me!! I had to quit wearing cargo pants because I carry things around in the pockets. Like screwdrivers, cable testers... all manner of things. Except my cel phone. I carry it in it's belt-holster.

I quit wearing cargo pants, and guess what? My muscle aches went away. It's not the freakin' celphone. It's having something banging on your leg all day that makes it hurt.

Or, it could be the cotton. Wait, I forgot, I wear 501's now. They're cotton too. Never mind.
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HamDude, 18 Mar 2006 @ 7:46pm

Oh wow, if 2+ hours on a cell phone would cause severe brain damage, I would be dead. Good thing that your just a fucking idiot who spews shit out of his mouth.

So, I use my cell phone at night so I don't wake anybody else up in the house when someone wants to call me, and my phone calls usually last alot longer then 2 hours, and I have almost talked all night before.

Honestly if there was any truth behind that at all, then according to you my brain would have leaked out of my ear and I would have licked up the puddle of my own liquified brain thinking it was strawberry syrup.
Anyone who beleives this prick, should be shot, because your like the rabbit that jumped in front of my tire the other day.
One rabbit set on the side of the road, and the other one jumped right in front of my tire, thats what I call natural selection.
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Mahmoud, 18 Mar 2006 @ 8:50pm

Re: Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
plz visit this link there are alot of other things i read but this is just a more trusted 1.
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Mahmoud, 18 Mar 2006 @ 8:52pm

http://www.ehn.clara.net/mobilephones.html
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anon, 18 Mar 2006 @ 11:56pm

Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
If I published an article about how being on the internet can give you diabetes, would you rush out and tell people that it must be true?

Seriously, unless you're getting it from a medical journal that actually has some sort of peer review (I don't trust network news....they usually only tell the part of the story that's interesting while leaving out the important things), don't believe it. Just because someone has a website doesn't make them an authority on anything.

Of coarse, just because I'm posting on TechDirt doesn't make me an authority on anything either. Keep believing that cell phones cause brain damage, the Olympic Torch virus will reprogram your DVD player and microwave, and that if you don't send this letter than Jebus started over 2,000 years ago to 10 of your friends in the next eleven and a half seconds, personal parts of your anatomy will start rotting and falling off.

The internet is a good starting point, but don't rely on it for everything. Find me an article from the NEJoM to peruse about this, and I may take you more seriously. Until then, you're just some nut who believes everything they read.
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Clay, 19 Mar 2006 @ 1:10am

<3
I love people who are smart, and those who realize medical journals exist.
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Mahmoud, 19 Mar 2006 @ 1:11am

Re: Re: Mobile Phones also cause brain damage
You might as will think, before deciding whether to believe it or not. I know very well that many of the articles on the internet are exaggerated, and i did not say that the internet is my only source. The internet is the connection between me and you right now, and therefore I decided that a proof from the internet is the best example becauze you will be only one click away from seeing what you are looking for.

Some articles on the internet say that no serious research was made to find out about whether mobile phones are really harmful or not. So, does this mean that because they are on the internet I should not be believing them.. ONE OF THE OPINIONS HAS TO BE TRUE.

I believe from many articles which I have read and even from personal experience that using a mobile phone for long time is harmful. It is in the end up to you to believe it or not to, but before blaming others for not searching in a proper media make sure you read about the other point of view. Who knows maybe it could be right afterall.
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Mahmoud, 19 Mar 2006 @ 1:39am

TO DORPUS & ANON
plz visit the following link
it is published in the online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)

http://www.ehponline.org/press/012903.html
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giafly, 19 Mar 2006 @ 5:52am

Sample Size
This could have been based on a telephone sample of only 168 young adults 17-24.

"Methodology - TNS interviewied a representative sample of 1,008 GB adults aged 16+ by telephone 2nd-4th december 2005." - webitpr.
Assuming people live to an average age of 70, and the interviewers contacted them randomly, this means about of them 168 were in the range 17-24.
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WhoNu, 19 Mar 2006 @ 6:17am

"Can you hear me now?"
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Bill Butler, 19 Mar 2006 @ 8:05am

cell phone headaches
the 16-24 y/o age group being the most prevalent ages for I-Pod use, how do they know that the head aches may not be caused but rock/hip-hop at high volumes 4-8 hours a day?
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Rob, 19 Mar 2006 @ 8:35am

Re: <3
Your all stupid. Think about this for a second, the radio waves used by cell phones carry less energy than visble light. We stand in visible light all day. This also applies to people who think microwaves can cause cancer etc... I hate people.
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Elf Ink (profile), 19 Mar 2006 @ 8:51am

Cell phones and damaged brains...
Perhaps it's damaged brains that leads to cell phone use, instead of the other way around.

At any rate, just leave the issue in the hands of the prison authorities... they can eliminate cell phones if the prisoners exhibit too much brainial deficiency.
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Andrew Strasser, 19 Mar 2006 @ 11:08am

Yeah but people don't even believe the "Can you He
The guy wound up suing over the fact that having the phone by his head so often caused him to have cancer across the side of his head. RF has been known to cause cancer. Eveeryone knows it does and yet they still don't make you put a surgeons general warning on cell hpones that says this device could cause cancerous brain tumors. Guess it's hard to get rid of something so they try to think of innovative solutions. That would take some research though now wouldn't it.
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Mohd, 19 Mar 2006 @ 12:13pm

So Simple!!!
Is that what its all about.......why dont u just keep the cellphone 8 inches away from your heads by using the loudspeaker.....??or u guys already are having brain damage then its too late,you cant think of any solution....heres one....!!
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Ponder, 19 Mar 2006 @ 2:19pm

Cell phone brain damage
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Ponder, 19 Mar 2006 @ 2:25pm

Cell phone brain damage
Sorry for my miss post, hit the wrong key.

Supposed reason for cell phone brain damage is the microwaves. Theses are supposed to heat up the brain. Microwave ovens have power measured in hunderds of watts. Cell phones measure microwave power in milliwatts. There is not enough power to cause brain damage. This is an outdated theory which has been disproven on humans. The trials on mice showed that phone then caused some of the mice brain damage. A human brain is larger and heats up slower. tHe mice were on the phones 24/7. Cell phones now use less power in the microwaves due to new laws in the
EU and USA
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Jay-Z, 19 Mar 2006 @ 3:07pm

Wish my battery lasted long enough to make a 2 hour call.
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anon, 19 Mar 2006 @ 9:13pm

Re: TO DORPUS & ANON
That's a three year old article that says little more than the fact that there is a strong need for more study. There have been no human studies (many things found true in rats are not true in humans), they admit that there weren't really enough rats, and no where in the article did it talk about the follow-up study that they suggested.

Where is the actual research? Where is the conclusive proof? I'm still not saying that you're wrong or that I'm right, I'm saying that the article there really doesn't have a whole lot of meat to it. It's good that they're doing the research, but, as they say in the article, there is "a strong need for further study as we all rely on cell phones more and more." Until there is more study, we won't really know the truth of the matter.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2006 @ 10:41pm

You are all wrong. Cell phones aren't the problem... talking is! Consider history and it becomes apparent that talking is the cause of all problems in the world. Why can't we as a supposedly intelligent life form just shut up?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2006 @ 10:43pm

I forgot to add you are all giving me a headache. And my entire body aches from the pure stupidity. I am starting a boycott on talking. Please support the boycott and just shut up!
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Mohd, 20 Mar 2006 @ 4:47am

to Coward
what u say will even cause more stupidity than ever before,,, everybody will beleive in his own stupid ideas ......its gonna be damn crazy.
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Suitedfists, 20 Mar 2006 @ 8:50am

Cookin' eggs....
Someone had mentioned a test that was performed using 2 cells phones to try and cook an egg......
Update: The hit series, Myth Busters, cracked this one wide open by trying to cook an egg which was surrounded by 100 cell phones that were all on an active call.......
Final result: After the testing, the egg was just as "uncooked" as it was before the test took place.....
Conclusion: Hop on a motorcycle without your helmet and hit the pavement of the highway doing 135 MPH....... There's your brain damage....... 'nough said!
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ergonomics, 20 Mar 2006 @ 10:04am

Headaches
Any telephone handset held between the ear and the shoulder will cause neck muscle problems that can lead to a headache, whether it is a cell phone or not.
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bill, 22 Jun 2006 @ 3:38am

reply
is think this evidence is shit
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jena, 12 Jul 2006 @ 2:10am

masts
masts are a good thing becuase it is not affecting us it is the mobile it self
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john, 1 Oct 2006 @ 1:09pm

mobile phone
Forget research, it happen to me. mobile has given me brain damage and i am suffering with it. Com on give up my fellow human beings.
thanx
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Matthew Edgley, 8 Mar 2007 @ 4:57am

Re: aches/pains
The exact same thing happened to me, and I am certain it is caused by the phone. I used to carry it exactly like you and I got twitching in my left quadriceps where the phone would be in my pocket. Then I put it in a container and carried it in a bag and the twitching stopped. But recently I have been using this school bag that you carry on one shoulder. I put my phone in it all the time, the material is thin and the bag usually rests under my right arm. Now I am getting the same muscle twitches in my right bicep. It is pretty bad, so I am going to use a new bag and get another container to put my phone in. There is a lot about phones that the manufacturers will not tell us and that is because if bad news surfaces then they lose lots of $$$ greedy bastards.
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TANZIM, 1 Oct 2007 @ 1:02pm

mobile phones should be banned
Mobile phones shoulb be banned because they cause cardiological and neurological problems.....
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Anon, 25 Aug 2010 @ 10:26pm

Not sure but....
Haven't read up on anything but experienced this.
Took 6 month contract job on nights. On a mobile phone for 10-12 hours a night on and off. By 5 months in I had weird severe twitches develop in my arms and head that went away after a weeks holiday and no phone use. And no it was not stress either! Something can't be right so its time for the wired earpiece I reckon.
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