The internet is rife with rumors about the miracles of cellular technology, as well as the dangers. Depending on who you believe you may be carrying around a miracle tool or a death trap in your pants and Lord knows that’s a lot of stress for one person to deal with. Best to get to the bottom of things and separate truth from fiction.
Here’s just one example:
Cell phones cause gas pump explosions
This winner has become so ingrained in our minds that gas stations actually have signs asking you to not use your phone while at the pumps for fear of a massive fireball of death and destruction, all because you needed to say goodnight to grandma. But when’s the last time you saw this happen on the news?
As it turns out, in the entire history of the entire world, there has never been an incident where someone blew themselves or any gas stations up with a cell phone. It’s a complete fabrication.
According to Snopes, the story just showed up one day in 1999. And every time it got mentioned, they said the explosion happened somewhere else. So basically it’s a friend of a friend story, only in this case the friend is an explosion, and no one’s ever seen it in person.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the American Petroleum Institute both agree that phones just don’t blow things up and they’ve never seen any evidence to suggest they do. Any news reports that have attributed fires to the use of phones were later proved false when someone, you know, actually looked for the real cause.
Mythbusters also tested the myth that cellphones interfere with the radio equipment on airlines and WRONGLY deemed it busted. My step dad is a pilot and knows what cellphone interference sounds like. It’s not as much during the call, but right before your phone would begin to ring or if your phone is searching for a signal the radio picks up dull monotonous beeps at varying frequencies. Some speakers and headphones will pick this up as well, while my computer setup does not, anytime I am at my dad’s house and his computer sound is on you will hear the same beeps immediately before the phone rings or right after you turn one on. My third and final example is a college professor I had who used a wireless microphone to lecture the class, but had a habit of leaving his phone on for when his wife would call and he usually kept the transmitter and phone in the same pocket. Since the classroom was partially underground it was mostly a dead zone and all throughout the class we had to listen to that damn beeping. On the rare occasions that he turned his phone off or set it on his desk and walked away… no beeping.
That is all…
🙂
I have the beeping problem if I lay my phone on the desk near the computer, you always know when it’s about to ring.
me too Gary it does that for texts too
My cell phone interferes with my truck radio,that way I know to answer it when I don’t hear the ringing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_gAsmWYe44
I went a couple of weeks ago for an EMG – a nerve test for carpal tunnel. If anyone has ever had this test, the second part involves a small needle being inserted into the muscles to record the electrical energy the produce when active. Both the doctor and I have Iphones. Mine was on my belt and hers was in her coat pocket. The reading was very noisy on the monitor and she tried several leads before figuring out it was our phones causing the interference. I felt like a pincushion. That was the first case where I have seen phones interfere with anything other than causing noise in speakers. BTW, I always carry a miracle tool in my pants 😉