Job Discussion Forums

[lall]

What�s a safe location for a cell-phone on one�s person?

I�ve tried �googling� the question, without much success.

I�ve heard that a cell-phone does more communicating with the many towers around it (each of which pages the cell-phone, for its location) in its passive state than when it is being used for a conversation.

Back in my hometown, I don�t use a cell-phone though my wife and mother do. I�ve persuaded my school-going son that he can do without one - I suppose that the peer pressure on him from the rest of his cell-phone-wielding schoolmates must be enormous.

Unfortunately, being abroad and away from the family compels me to use one.

I�m looking for tips from fellow posters for a (relatively) safe location on one�s person (special pockets on the trouser leg?).

I have tried keeping the cell-phone at least a metre away from me while at work and at home. This has its demerits (forgetting it, not being able to see an incoming message, etc.,). Also, you can�t switch it off all the time, the church, restaurant and theatre being exceptions.

Should I have posted this on a tech. forum, I�d get a load of technical gobbledygook about SAR, special carbon-fibre pouches and the like. I�d like the Middle Eastern ESL community�s view on it.

Regards,

Lall.

[007]

[lall]

The WHO may have concluded that there are no risks.

I'm not convinced.

Remember those little, self-adhesive thingies that were available sometime ago, those things that you could stick to the upper, rear region of your cell-phone, generally near the (concealed or otherwise) antenna?

Remember how they'd flash all by themselves, when a call came through?

If the electro-magnetic radiation caused by an incoming call is strong enough to excite the filaments in those things into lighting up, I think that they are strong enough to cook my brain.

[veiledsentiments]

Since the ME ESL group aren't scientists, I'm not sure what advice I would want from them on this issue. They can only know what they have read from the same sources as you (which means a mixture of conspiracy theories about money still trumping safety versus the producers/sellers swearing that they are safe). Personally I refused to have one when I was in the ME... no need. And back here in the US, I only have a basic one that goes in the car when I am driving long distances out of town. No one has the phone number but my elderly mother.

From what I have read... I don't think they are safe. But it is not the carrying of them... it is talking on them. We will know for sure in about 20 years or so when we see the results of the young people who have one plastered to their ear all day.

An interesting new detail about them came out just lately... adding to the additional accidents from using them while driving. It seems that they may also be a major cause of traffic back-ups as people slow down when they answer the phone. (a good news/bad news thing)

VS

[007]

[Miss TESOL]

"Heavy Cell Phone Use Linked To Cancer, Study Suggests"

See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080214144349.htm

for this article about research on cell phone use and a possible correlation to higher cancer rates (not the brain, but the salivary glands).

MissT

[Stephen Jones]

Grow long hair or buy a ghutra. Then use Superglue to stick it to the side of your head near your ear. Will save a load of time and make you the envy of the locals.

If you are worried about radiation there are car body shops in the UAE (they advertise themselves as 'Denting') that manufacture ghutras and underwear out of tin foil. You can get versions covered with cinnamon oil that will also repel sexual predators and floating computer viruses.

[bje]

[cmp45]

I took my mobile phone to a traditional doctor and he performed the cupping ritual on it to draw out the radiation. The only problem is I have to go back every week and repeat this process and costs about 100 riyals a pop. It's worth it! I no longer worry about using my mobile phone.

[veiledsentiments]

See lall... didn't I tell you that this gang wouldn't be much help.

VS

[lall]

Yeah! You were right, VS. It made for interesting reading, though. And that link from Miss T was interesting.

[lall]

I know that it's bad form to post twice consecutively on a thread, especially on one that's been authored by you. Pardon me, please.

They say that a primary reason for prohibiting calls on the plane is because the "handing over" of calls from tower to tower as the plane takes off or lands knocks out the entire system because the system is designed for speeds of up to 120 kmph (passenger car speeds).

It may be true.

Note that the oft-handed reason that the signals interfere with the air traffic communications system may not be true, since you commonly see insensitive people making calls from the plane when it's on the apron.

Also, I think that modern airplane communications systems are robust enough to prevent a cellphone call from affecting them. If they were not, terrorists would have found a way of keeping a continously-active cellphone in the checked-in luggage to hold airports at ransom.

What do you think?

[mishmumkin]

I would say that you are more likely to die or be seriously injured driving in any of the Gulf nations...hell, perhaps the whole ME, than developing a disease from a mobile device...just my humble opinion.