And what if Cellphones Really are Dangerous?

As I scanned the web this morning, one story about the potential dangers of cellphones caught my eye. Molly Wood, writing for CNET, suggests that cellphone makers could be as much in the wrong as tobacco firms, by denying the mounting evidence that cellphones are dangerous, potentially causing brain damage. “But, just as Big Tobacco did, the cell phone industry seems bound and determined to thwart and deny any suggestion that its product might be dangerous.”

And what if they turn out to be truly dangerous? What can we do?Cellphones are almost as ubiquitous as ears – just about everyone has one, and many people have several. While you used to shy away from anyone talking to themselves on the streets of a major city, now a good percentage of people carry on conversations as they walk, drive, or ride the bus or train. Cellphones certainly are useful – providing easy communication from just about anywhere – but one could argue that many people overuse them.

Cellphones seem to be addictive, just like cigarettes. People are more than willing to pay exorbitant monthly fees to say a lot of unimportant things to others from the most unexpected locations. Some researchers suggest that the most common cellphone conversation goes something like this:

“Hi, honey. How are you?”

“Fine, how are you?”

“Great. Listen, I’m near the store. Do you want me to bring home [enter your essential foodstuff here]?”

“Yeah, why don’t you do that.”

“Okay, see you in a few minutes.”

“Bye.”

Now, that is a satire; a lot of people say much more important things on their cellphones. My friend Mark called me this morning because his PowerBook wouldn’t start up; he needed help quickly, and he used his cellphone since he wasn’t home.

I even have a cellphone – it’s sitting on my desk, turned off. It’s one of those prepay models, where you buy a card every now and then. I buy a card every six months or so, just to keep the number so people can reach me when I leave my secret bat-cave here in the French Alps.

But the point of all this is the following: What if cellphones are dangerous? Will people be able to give them up? While hands-free kits allow some level of protection, at least for your brain, does putting the cellphone in your pocket risk damaging your gonads?

What if other tech products turn out to be dangerous as well? Have we become so dependent on technology that we’d be unable to give up “essential” devices, such as cellphones, computer screens, wireless network devices, and other hardware that could cause similar health problems? (I’m just speculating in that list; I don’t know of any studies that suggest that any of these devices, other than cellphones, are dangerous.)

This is food for thought in an increasingly technology-driven age…