Most of us can probably not imagine a life without a cell phone anymore – me neither.
Considering the time we spend using our cell phones on a normal day, electromagnetic field exposure is immense. We are constantly surrounded by radiation.
The best tip to protect yourself against radiation would probably be: Get rid of your cell phone.
But understanding that in our modern world this is not an option for most of us anymore we need to find solutions on how to minimize the radiation exposure.
Therefore we want to show some free and simple ways to protect yourself against radiation while still using your phone:
- Make Phone Calls on Speaker Function or Use Wired Headphones
- Ban Your Cell Phone From Your Bedroom
- Keep Your Cell Phone in Airplane Mode
- Maintain Distance Between You and Your Cell Phone
- Close the Apps Which You Don’t Use
- Increase Your Awareness -> Create More Offline-Times!
A Small Introduction: From Simple to Smart
What originally was invented to give people the freedom to talk on the phone away from their landline turned out to be a device that revolutionized completely the way people communicate.
Nowadays smartphones can be used – additionally to its basic functions – in so many ways: as a portable media player, a digital camera, GPS navigation device, or as an entertainment device, to only name a few. It has an operating system, web browsing, and the ability to run software applications. It replaces for many people the wristwatch, alarm clock and calculator. With the development of Apps, it allows us to perform tasks in every sector of life.
Only in the US, there are around 200 million cell phones in use. An American adult spends on average 3 hours and 30 minutes a day using mobile internet on their cell phones. And that is just an average value. If we would have a closer look at different age groups or people who mainly work with their phones, the average times will probably differ a lot and can be much higher.
#1 Make Phone Calls on Speaker Function or Use Wired Headphones
Did you know that most cell phone manuals warn from having your phone too close to your body? They advise you to avoid using or carrying your cell phone against your head or body at all times. Most recommend having at least 10mm of space between you and your phone. That means basically – the usual way we are using our phones while making a call should not be like that and it is definitely not safe. Cell phones emit radiofrequency (RF) waves which is a form of electromagnetic energy. So if you put your phone directly next to your head while making a call your body can absorb this radiation.
To avoid this a good alternative is to use the speaker function so you make sure you keep the recommended distance to your body. You can also use headphones of course (but not the wireless ones please) which will have the same positive effect.
#2 Ban Your Cell Phone From Your Bedroom
The room you sleep in should be a strict device-free zone! Not only cell phones but also other devices such as televisions, stereo systems, refrigerators, or radio alarm clocks don’t belong in the bedroom. They all work with EMF radiation which can have a negative impact on your sleep quality and even cause sleeping problems. So better ban your cell phone and other devices from the bedroom or lower them to the minimum. The bedroom is the room where you should rest and regenerate at night. If you have to use the alarm clock on your cell phone you can set your phone on flight mode and it will lower the EMF level already drastically.
#3 Keep Your Cell Phone in Airplane Mode
If you don’t need to use your phone for a while OR you need to have it in your bedroom at night (e.g. for alarm clock reasons) turn it into airplane mode. This will reduce the electromagnetic field exposure enormously even though it is not completely off as most people believe.
#4 Maintain Distance Between You and Your Cell Phone
If you don’t use your cell phone, try to keep it as far away as possible. To avoid mindlessly grabbing for your phone we recommend creating a “phone storage box”. Locate it at a certain place which is a few meters away from the places you spent the most time at home (e.g. in the corridor/entrance of your house). Every time you come back home you drop the phone in that box OR you leave it in there for certain “phone-free hours”.
As soon as the phone is out of sight it will have two very positive effects: You will create a distraction-free time for yourself or with your family AND due to the distance, the radiation impact will be much lower.
#5 Close the Apps Which You Don’t Use
Once you have opened an app on your cell phone it will stay open until you manually close it again. Most people don’t know about it and have many Apps running in the background of their phones. These Apps keep on updating themselves and more mobile data and power of your phone are being used and again more radiation emitted.
So whenever you finish using an App (Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram!) close it manually and only open it again when you continue using it.
#6 Increase Your Awareness -> Create More Offline-Times!
Try to create conscious “offline-times”. You could start with a few hours a day. You will notice very fast how good it is to have a break from the display every now and then.
To many people it sounds easier than it is – putting your cell phone away for a while. We are so used to having access to it at all times. If we forget something, we can look it up on the Internet. If we can’t find the right way, we open the navigation app. We are no longer thinking for ourselves but just automatically pick up the cell phone and search for the solution. Many people are aware of these habits, but it is still difficult for us to simply let go for some time.
Just switch it off for some moments of the day and soon you will notice how nice and relaxing these times can be for you.
We hope this article was useful to you and that you’ve gained some knowledge about how you can protect yourself from cell phone radiation. We are happy to hear your feedback!
Sources:
https://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/smartphone
https://applord.co/brief-history-apps/
