Mobile phones are a vital part of how we function as a society today. According to mobile statistics collected by Mobithinking.com, there are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers in the world (77% of the world’s population). The sale of mobile devices steadily rose in 2010, with smart phones showing the strongest growth.
Eight trillion text messages will be sent in 2011. Over 300,000 mobile applications have been developed in the last three years. Mobile Applications have been downloaded 10.9 billion times. Mobile phones are used to surf the web, run applications, email, text, play games, bank, shop, receive news updates, watch videos, participate in social media, listen to music, and of course, make phone calls.
Based on the above data, it’s clear that users rely on their mobile phones, whether feature or smart, to perform an enormous number of tasks for them. Mobile phones have become one of the most vital communications devices for both personal and professional use, and all signs point to mobile phone usage continuing to soar.
While this mobility is infinitely attractive to mobile users, there might be an extreme downside to this freedom of technology. At the end of May, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report that classified mobile phones as presenting a possible risk for a specific type of cancer in humans.
According to a joint report released by the WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, mobile phones show limited evidence of carcinogenity. The WHO has said that: “A positive association has been observed between exposure to the agent and cancer for which a causal interpretation is considered by the Working Group to be credible.” Scientists have theorized that this could potentially lead to a malignant type of brain cancer.
However, a new study released today by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute detailed how there was no link found between mobile phone use and cancer: “The absence of an exposure-response relationship either in terms of the amount of mobile phone use or by localization of the brain tumor argues against a causal association.”
So which is it? Is there a heightened risk of developing a brain tumor from extended cell phone use or is there no risk at all? These conflicting reports may leave mobile phone users confused. Should they limit their talking time? Should they feel free to gab away?
Only a slew of additional research studies will be able to concretely prove the effects of prolonged cell phone use one way or the other (remember the cell phone only came into popular usage in the late nineties). In the meantime, there’s a plethora of alternative uses for mobile phones, and users can email and text in order to stay in constant contact while simultaneously minimizing the risk.
