You’ve seen it before: Someone making a crappy left hand turn while holding a cell phone to their ear; the ten year old trailing behind his parents at the mall while texting; the guy in the supermarket who looks like he’s talking to himself, but upon further inspection has a cell phone ear piece on.

The world has become dependent upon cell phones. Everywhere we go we have to be connected. Could you imagine being without yours? I mean, what if you were at H+M and the cerulean blue dress on the mannequin reminded you of the color of your best friend’s  eyes? You couldn’t possibly wait until later to tell her. My mother, of the baby boomer generation, sees folks on their cell phones all day long and is deeply offended. I actually derived my example of the “guy who looks like he’s talking to himself” from one of her rants. “They look ridiculous!” she cries.

Check out this short article about two kids in Spain who were treated for mobile phone addiction. They had become increasingly irritable, withdrawn, and their performance in school had declined significantly when their parents decided to check them into the hospital.

It is ridiculous that these kids would even have cell phones to begin with. I think what scares me more than this example of horrible parenting is the fact that we have not ruled out the possibility of brain tumors being linked to cell phone usage. In fact, doctors and researchers admit that all the research that has been done has only tracked people who have used cell phones for a short amount of time (less then ten years). What about kids who are starting at eight or ten? Children who begin using cell phones at such a young age may be significantly more likely to develop tumors (this may be due to the fact that their skulls are not finished developing and are thinner, doctors say). One recent article I read in Health magazine stated a link between decreased sleep quality and cell phone use right before bed. If cell phone radiation can affect our sleep, is it that hard to believe it can have worse effects on our brains?

Best medical advice for cell phone use…’til further notice: Use a headset or limit cell phone use. Lastly, I know that cell phones are necessary in today’s highly connected world, but take time to unplug once in while. And if you can’t do that, at least refrain from calling your significant other to ask if you should turn on red. 

Thoughts on cell phone use?

On brain tumors/cell phone link?