The 21^st century has brought an influx in the use of technology, especially the use of cellphones. It seems like every month there is a new phone coming out, and it’s becoming increasingly normal for everyone, including younger kids, to have a smartphone or some sort of cellphone. With the increase in the use of cellphones, there has been a lot of speculation of whether the use of cellphones is bad for you or not. I’ve head multiple rumors regarding this claim, including cellphones giving people cancer or cellphones stunting a child’s brain growth. I decided to research this myself and see if the claim is actually true.

The first step of my research was to find out why people think cellphones are dangerous or hazardous in the first place. Cellphones work by transmitting and receiving radio frequencies to cellphones towers. According to Best Health magazine, these radio frequencies have been found to be able to penetrate your body, depending on how close you hold the phone to yourself and the strength of the radio signal. The strength of this can vary, mostly depending on the distance between your phone and a cell tower (the farther away you are from one, the radio frequency energy increases).

Some scientists and studies have determined that long-term heavy cellphone use and exposure to these radio frequencies has been linked to the increased risk of ear nerve cancer and slow-growing brain tumors. Dr. Lennart Hardell, from Sweden, conducted the study that suggests that swedes who talk on a mobile phone for more than 25 years had triple the risk of getting glioma, a certain type of brain cancer, compared with those who used wireless phones for less than a year. “Hardell and his collegue Michael Carlberg, matched 1,380 patients with malignant brain tumors to people without them and compared their wireless phone use.” He asked people to recall their wireless phone use throughout the years, and recorded their responses.

Hardell also reported that children might be more susceptible to the emissions from the phones, since they absorb the radio frequencies easier due to their thinner skulls and smaller heads.

While Hardell provided information that proves that there is a correlation between cellphone use and the increase chances of getting glioma, he didn’t take into account that his information might not be entirely accurate. Much of his data for the experiment was based off anecdotal evidence, so these people might not remember exactly how much time they spent on the phone.

Another study conducted by Dr. Gabriel Zada, a neurosurgeon at the University of Southern California, reported that the rates of malignant tumors in parts of the brain closest to where people hold their phones increased in California from 1992 to 2006. This study conducted by Dr. Zada was done with data from the Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance Program, the California Cancer Registry, and the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results. “He observed the correlation between lobe glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors in different areas of the brain, and concluded that there were increases of GBM in the temporal and frontal lobe, as well as the cerebellum.” The radio frequency energy, which could be absorbed by the tissues closest to where the phone is held, could be responsible for the increase of GBM in these areas of the brain.

My final takeaway on this topic is that there is clearly a correlation between cellphone use and harmful effects towards the body (such as the possibility of getting cancer). However, I don’t believe it is a direct cause, just that there’s a possibility it might be harmful. I think there’s still much more research and studies to be done in order to determine this.

Picture links:

http://learnfromlance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/warning-to-cell-phone-users-275×300.png

http://en.kllproject.lv/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/cell-phone-radiation-spectru.gif