Cell Phones- Super or Sinister?

Cell phones are both blessing and bane.  I admit, I love having one.  I mean, I grew up in the age of payphones, and now that I have my own, the convenience is like, the eighth wonder of the world. (Maybe we're up to the ninth-- I don't know...)

The first portable cell phone, invented by Martin Cooper in 1973, were monster-sized, comparatively speaking.  They were like talking into a brick, in both size and weight.  But hey, they were portable!  Convenience was born.

Today's cell phones are beautiful, sleek, and oh-so-powerful.  But are they safe?  Well, yes and no.  Brain tumors are up 25% since 1973, and many people link cell phones to cancer.  Your sugar levels (glucose) in your brain rise after talking on the cell phone for as little as 50 minutes.  That's a bad thing.  Bone density decreases the longer the phone is worn on the body- specifically, if you always wear your phone on your belt or in your pocket because the bone that is getting thinner is the bone that is used for bone grafts.  That's not good, either.

Some people report getting inexplicably ill with MS-like symptoms after cell phone towers go up, or with a lot of exposure to cell phones.  Why is this happening?  Because cell phones emit radiation.  Yikes!  Not a good thing!

OK- so how can we be practical, use our cell phones, and still be safe?  Here are a few tips.

• Use a corded headset- (not a bluetooth!)  
• Use the speakerphone for conversations whenever possible.  
• Don't wear it on your body.  Keep it in your purse, or in your car.  You and your caller will survive without instant communication.  (Remember answering machines?)
• Buy a cell phone radiation shield.  These are supposed to protect you from harmful radiation so you don't nuke your brain.  
• Never allow children, with their thin skulls and still-developing cells, to use cell phones.  Danger, danger Ranger Bob!

There-- now we can safely use our cell phones, and still be safe- in a practical way.