Girls: Is Putting Our Cellphones In Our Bras Bad?

When I first got my cellphone, it was the coolest thing in the world to me. I always wanted to keep right it right in the palm of my hand so that I could see it and so could everyone else. But as time passed by and the newness of my cellphone wore off, I started needing places to put it. And, as a girl, I don’t have very large pockets in my jeans that can accommodate my iPhone. So I did what every other woman has done at least once in their life. I started to store my phone right in my bra. This was very convenient because I had easy access to it all day without it being out in the open where it could get lost. But one day my mom saw me stuffing my phone in my bra and she scolded me saying that putting my phone in my bra could cause breast cancer. I listened to her and took my phone out of my bra and into my back pants pocket but I always wondered just how true this breast cancer from cellphones things was. Was this just another way for our parents to scare us into listening to them or was this an actual health concern that more women need to be aware of?

Is putting your cellphone in your bra causing breast cancer?

Is putting your cellphone in your bra causing breast cancer?

After I did some research, I realized that a lot of people don’t actually know. There have been very little experiments to prove that cell phones in your bra will cause breast cancer but then there are individual accounts from women who have put their cellular devices in their bra and then developed a cancerous tumor in the same spot they store their phone. The woman in this article claimed that this exact instance happened to her. And while this incident is almost too coincidental, there is no way that we can take this one woman’s personal story as truth. Her story is anecdotal evidence that, although it happened to her, the same can not be said for every single woman who has put their phone in their bra for years. Granted, there might be a very strong correlation between these two events but there might be a hidden variable here that no one is taking into account. This woman who developed breast cancer may have family members who have or have had breast cancer as well. And if that’s not the case, then she might have an acquired gene mutation that is specific to her and was not handed down to her by the genes of her family members. There are so many factors to consider which is why it is very hard to say that cellphones in bras are the cause of many cases of breast cancer. This article says that there have only been a handful of experiments trying to prove that radio frequencies from cellphone can cause cancer. My personal opinion is that, until there have been more randomized experiments and we are no longer getting our information from anecdotal evidence, it is safe to say that radio frequencies from cellphones are not as big of a cause for breast cancer as a lot of people (especially parents) like to think.

9 thoughts on “Girls: Is Putting Our Cellphones In Our Bras Bad?

  1. Lisa Marie Acerba

    Intersting! I would love to know more about this topic because I too am guilty of storing my phone in my bra. I am all too familiar with beast cancer because my mom has gone through it on three separate occasions. More studies do certainly have to be done because obviously an experiment would be unethical. I will have to be more aware next time. Also, check out this article-
    http://ehtrust.org/keep-that-cell-phone-out-of-your-bra/

  2. Chane Jeter-Smith

    Very relevant! I too had my parent scare me into not keeping my phone in my bra because of a result to cancer. I was so scared when I heard cancer could be a result of storing my phone in my bra that I just stopped altogether! I never thought to actually look it up. I just let myself become used to not storing it their. But this post definitely answered many questions I had when growing up. Now I can tell my mom the REAL truth!

  3. jvn5243

    WOW! This was such an interesting and relevant topic especially for me now because I never want to bring a purse anywhere in State College. This post shares a lot about what we have learned in class and you did a great job putting it all into perspective. You also included the area of a chance variable by stating the woman may have an acquired gene mutation. I wonder if we will ever have a clear mechanism for this experiment.

  4. Elaina Blair

    WOW! I have always thought this to be true as well. My friends always do this and I always yell at them because I have always believed it may cause breast cancer too! I agree that you do not have to stop doing this action until further research is produced, but I will not be partaking in this action. I feel that the radiation could have effects that may lead to cancer. Just like how people say talking on the phone causes brain cancer I believe there may be some sort of link between the two.

  5. Erin Ann Alessandroni

    Jada, great job making a lot of the vocabulary that we refer to in class relevant to your post. It is an interesting idea to make blog posts based around research done on warnings that our parents used to give us. I can’t say that my mom has ever tried to convince me that placing a cell phone in my bra would cause cancer; however, she may have advised against it due to the potential judgmental glances from society you could receive each time you go to pull it out. Your conclusion that there is not enough evidence on the dangers of this act to convince you to end the habit is understandable; however, this case reminds me of the quiz we took on bright lights around bed time causing depression. Our professor’s personal opinion was that despite the lack of evidence indicating a cause-effect type relationship between light and depression, the fix was so simple that it was worth changing the habit just in case the hypothesis is correct. This is similar circumstances to choosing not to put your cellphone in your bra and maybe just carrying a purse in case the slim evidence could build up over time. The body tissues closest to the phone absorb more energy than tissues farther away. The American Cancer Society has a whole section on cell phones where they talk about the many factors that can affect the amount of RF energy (cancer causing) someone is exposed to when using a phone. Proximity to the body is a factor in RF energy absorption; however, extremely large amounts are necessary to cause any negative affects.

  6. Claire E Going

    Hi Jada,

    This post is interesting because it goes back to what we learned in class and a lot of the things Andrew said about causation, correlation, and the “z” variable. Much like the cigarette study causing lung cancer, we won’t know if putting our cell phones in our bras causes breast cancer for maybe 20 years from now or so, when studies can be done. When there’s a huge time gap like that, it is very difficult to prove that cell phones can cause breast cancer. But I think the point is that it is easy enough not to store your phone in your bra and to store it somewhere else or just hold it, whether or not it is proven to be harmful to your health.

  7. Caitlyn Ark

    I heard about that woman who claimed that putting her phone in her bra gave her breast cancer as well! I really like this topic because it brings a lot of questions to my mind. How much damage does a cell phone cause when it comes to cancer and radiation? Here is some more information on cell phones and cancer!

  8. Sarah Elizabeth Stiffler

    I’m really glad you chose this topic!! For years my mom has told me to stop putting my phone in my bra. Its hard not to do it, especially when you are wearing an outfit that doesn’t have pockets. I agree that we shouldn’t stop just because one person claims its bad, but I also hope there will be more research into it. In the meantime I will probably continue to do it!

  9. Sarah Elizabeth Pettoruto

    Wow!! This was an awesome topic to write about! I never even thought about the effects that could happen if I stored my phone in my bra. I totally agree that we do not really have to stop doing this unless there is more legitimate evidence in the future that keeping your phone in your bra can lead to breast cancer. I liked how you also related the experiment to what we have been learning in class about correlation. That lady’s incident could have just been a coincidence, we are not sure. All in all great post!

Comments are closed.