Cancerous Technology?

Image: Boy Sleeping With Electronic Products

Many people use their phones and other electronics before they fall asleep. They scroll through their social media, watch hours of YouTube or Netflix, or use Snapchat to catch up with friends. However, using your smart electronics before falling asleep is quite dangerous. This not only may keep you up all night long, but it can also allow you to fall asleep with your cell phone right beside you. Sleeping with your cellular device close to your head may seem harmless at first, but in actuality, this can impose some serious health effects for you and I both.

According to the California Department of Public Health, “sleeping with your phone in your bed, or near your head, could increase the risk of brain cancer”. Using your phone before falling asleep is something we all tend to do. We all want some down time before going to bed, so we look to use our electronic devices. Many times, we then mindlessly fall asleep while using these devices. Many times, we even purposely place our charging systems right near our beds for easy access. It is a common phenomenon that is causing us great risk.

Nevertheless, this common phenomenon still can lead to an increased risk of brain cancer. Smart phones, iPads, and laptops are constantly working at night. They are being charged, receiving notifications, texts, and other alerts. Even if you are sleeping, your technology is not. As your phone works at night, it continues to release radio frequency as they receive and send information from near-by cell towers. Because of the radio frequency emitted by our smart phones, certain scientists believe that this high energy could lead to “tumors of the acoustic nerve and salivary glands”.

Image: Radio Frequency Waves

Although there are current studies saying that the long-term exposure to radio frequency may cause health risks amongst us humans, there is also not enough information to fully prove this correlation. The repercussions of smart phone placement at night needs to be further examined for longer periods of time to completely tell whether or not the radio frequency is truly hazardous.

But just to be safe, the California guidance has suggested that we should still look to reduce our overall exposure to this radio frequency. And I don’t know about you, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

Image: Mac, iPhone, iPad

I personally fall asleep with all my smart devices near my bed, as well. I have my iPad charging on my night stand, my laptop charging near my bed, and my phone charging right next to my laptop. Since the effects of radio frequency emitted through smart phones is seen causing harmful health effects on us, I would only imagine adding an iPad and laptop would increase these detrimental effects. This is something that I need to change – something we all need to change.

In addition to brain cancer, the energy from our smart phones and other electronics may also lead to lower sperm counts or an increased number of inactive sperm, more headaches, and negative effects on learning, memory, behavior, hearing, and overall sleep. Sleeping next to technology seems to pose many injurious effects on our bodies. Yet, many of us still continue to use them before falling asleep. It is a habit we cannot seem to easily quit.

We use smart electronics every day. They are glued to our hands during the day and even at night. Although overall exposure to our smart phones and products at night may cause brain cancer, inactive sperm, and other horrible health effects, at the end of the day, cell phones and other smart electronics will continue to prevail. But, why? When will we ever realize the harmful effects these devices have on our bodies – both physiologically and mentally? Will we continue to ignore these posing threats and keep on using this cancerous technology 24 hours a day?

After all, for many of us, our smart phones and other electronic devices are basically our life lines. They can do everything and anything in the matter of a few minutes or even a few seconds. These powerful devices connect us with family and friends with a click of a button; they can help us Google our dire questions with a touch of the screen.

We have to learn when to draw the line. We have to understand that the constant use of electronics, especially at night, will impose serious health issues for us in the long run. But this will only come to our realization with a matter of time.