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the international scientific Internet platform on topical issues
in affiliation with the Kompetenz initiative
Mobile phones research : discussion
Mobile phones and wireless technology have transformed society, largely in the ‘developed’ world, but increasingly in the ‘developing’ world, since the infrastructure can be cheaper and easier to install.
In westernised societies, people work differently, relate differently, behave differently and many depend (sociologically, psychologically and pathologically) on their communicators. Are our children safer? Are unprepared hillwalkers or sailors suitably protected by relying on them? Are people more trustworthy in their personal relationships? Mobile phones and wireless working, being contactable everywhere and able to contact anyone, download anything: this raises very many social, health, environmental and economic issues. And whereas traders in the products assure us we are better off, others picking up the pieces try to alert us that all is not well.
Among the environmental issues we can cite coltan mining – for minerals used in capacitors essential to these devices, or recycling issues of the toxic components in staggering quantities or discarded phones. There are 2 billion mobile phones in the world, but users know their lifecycle all to well; rapid development means rapid obsolescence, and mountains of phones are literally buried in the ground. They cannot be repaired, so they are thrown away.
Crime is related to mobile phones in a substantial way. They facilitate the co-ordination of crime, but they are also a focus for crime in the form of muggings. Most horrifyingly, mobile phones have elicited a new form of crime: happy slapping. A misnomer, for cases of videoed attacks and killing already, suggest the role of peer-sharing acts of violence and power will continue.
Undoubtedly, the impact on the individual is substantial, and this also is reflected in society. Young people now have a private world, yet one through which they can be tracked and traced. They plan and arrange their lives more spontaneously, but similarly abuse and bully each other with ease. Already addiction centres are treating people for phone-dependency. Coupled with online gambling from phones, these social changes and threats need to be addressed and understood, not treated as arising from Luddite reaction.
But the big issue is whether they are damaging to our health. Even those who deny that mast radiation could ever be harmful, can have doubts about the phones. There are a number of approaches that can help, such as avoidance of close body contact and the kind of headsets used, or devices to shield radiation; so there is a real question of whether they are safe, can be made safe, and how. But the science, as we see it, tells an increasingly unequivocal story: that microwave radiation, digitally structured in various ways, when applied to the body, especially the head, but also by phones worn in pockets or on belts, is damaging and the more often and frequently used or worn over longer periods of time, the more likely this damage is. With so many young people as the biggest users, questions of fertility as well as brain disease (tumours) are serious: the ten year latency results avoided by the industry should be recalled as the length of time it takes a 14 year old to reach maturity, a career and the start of family life. If this is the time of life when the consequences start to appear, we had better be honest about it now rather than hoping the concerns are ill-founded.
See what the research says, and what various study results really mean. Media headlines are unreliable either way, so read on and understand the scientific position more clearly. But see too who is providing research money and facilities, and who is promoting which message. Because for sure, this is a global commercial empire where the players have huge profits at stake, governments have enormous tax revenues, and yes, people do not want to know if the devices are harmful.
