this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Technology

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Microwaves. It's microwaves.

Phones are slightly above FM radio and slightly below microwaves in terms of wavelength.

They're a non-ionizing radiation emitter.

The radiation emitted by phones ain't gonna hurt ya.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (4 children)

That's right! However, remember that bananas have potassium-40 in it, which is radioactive. Not much, though. So be very very mildly careful around bananaphones! /old joke

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Back in the early 00s there was this wave of "phones give you cancer" panic and my friends father made them put on this stupid sticker on the back of their phone to "stop the radiation". Anyways it was stupid and your comment reminded me of it xD

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You take that back!

I had a sticker that had flashing LEDs powered solely on the radiation coming from the phone. It was awesome.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

OK now THAT is cool

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

My grandad still only uses his phone on loud speaker because of this

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Ring ring ring ring ring

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also remember that plants have been around before humans and that we evolved to resist natural radiations. We haven't evolved yet to be around devices that produces more radiations than the limit agreed by scientists

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Radioactive bananas is a relatively new thing resulting from all the nuclear bomb testing that went on from the 40s in to the 90s.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Great, now I have to go listen to the fucking song. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I seem to remember it was not a ionization issue but something with local temperatures increases around the ear when you were using it without an earset.

Anyway, Apples knows what the norms are, decided not to care, gets caught and has to retire a phone, nothing exceptional here.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

3.8 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I doubt they'd have to retire the phone - digital radio power levels are normally pretty easy to change in the radio firmware. Which also means it's pretty easy to change, intentionally or unintentionally, in a later OS version.

Perhaps Apple chose to cheat to improve reception after mandatory testing was complete and the phone was available to buy, figuring they'd never get caught out. Perhaps Apple didn't retest with later OS versions and it was unintentional. We will probably never know.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Can't you read? The article says the EU has a limit of 4 watts per kilogram and the device produces more than that. Scientists agreed on that limit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

How is it 2023, when everybody uses microwave radios for communication constantly, and there are still people that don't understand the absolute basics, like the difference between radio/light radiation and ionising radiation? And how important transmit power is to how dangerous or not a radio wave is?

They do teach this stuff in schools still, right?

It boggles my mind. It's not some complex difficult topic, it's like not knowing how electricity works, or how your body works. This is basic child level knowledge that everybody interacts with every single day, so it behoves them to understand it at least at an introductory level.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah that's what I thought... non-ionizing radiation fear, once again.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had a neighbor in Paris who would knock on our door and tell us to turn off the wi-fi because he was allergic.

To wifi.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is likely mostly true, but there is evidence brain tumor rates went up when handheld cell phones came into widespread use.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Detection of brain tumour also went up, due to increased capacity of MRIs/CT scans.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Also more marvel movies came out. It's interesting how often we have to repeat the correlation/causation joke and people still struggle with it.