Monday night at Atma / The evil of Cell phones

Last night I'm talking with Damien ("Damo" in Ausspeak) over dinner. We've discussing how my wife and I don't have cellphones, an unusual situation it seems. Cellphones have become yet another artificial necessity that you can't live without. Yeah right.

So I ask Damo: "Do you know what happens to someone who uses a cellphone for 20 years?" His reply: "No". My rejoinder: "Yeah, no-one does. And yet they've pushed them out across the human population."

I wrote in 2005:

One devotee that I wrote to about using cellphones to preach dismissed the idea, saying that he didn't own a cellphone, and never would. I also don't own a cellphone - I believe that history will cast cellphones in the same light as cigarettes. Currently cellphone manufacturers market heavily to pre-adolescent children, even though the government in the UK has warned that growing children should not be exposed to use of cellphones except in urgent situations.

Seriously - get rid of your cellphone and use the force. You do not need it. All the arguments about why you have to have it are simply maya. It is not necessary.

This morning I read this on stuff.co.nz:

The link between mobile phones and brain tumours should "no longer be regarded as a myth" after research suggests high cellphone use could double the risk of brain cancer.

The review, headed by Australian-based neurosurgeon Vini Khurana, uses more than 100 sources in recent medical and scientific literature.

It claims to highlight an emerging global public health concern - with broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking.

Dr Khurana says in a research paper published on the website brain-surgery.us that using cellphone handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer and is more dangerous than smoking.

"Malignant brain tumours may take several years to develop, and the incidence of malignant brain tumours is increasing."

The time from when someone became a heavy mobile phone user to receiving a diagnosis of a malignant solid brain tumour could be about 10 to 20 years.

Mobile phones were launched in Europe in the mid-1980s.

The first 10 years of widespread usage ended in the mid 1990s, he said.

"In the years 2008-2012, we will have reached the appropriate length of follow-up time to begin to definitively observe the impact of this global technology on brain tumour incidence rates.

"Malignant brain tumour incidence and its associated death rate will be observed globally to rise within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to meaningfully intervene."

A malignant brain tumour was a fatal diagnosis in the vast majority of cases, he said.

The safest ways to avoid potential harm were to opt for hands-free mode while keeping the device more than 20 centimetres away from the head and only using cellphones in emergencies.

Enough evidence and technology were available for industry and governments to take "immediate steps" to reduce consumers' exposure.

Vodafone New Zealand spokesman Paul Brislen said research into radio frequency fields had continued for nearly 70 years, and more specific research into mobile phones for the past couple of decades.

"Expert scientific reviews conclude it is unlikely there are adverse health effects linked to mobile phones that comply with applicable safety standards."

Telecom spokeswoman Rebecca Earl said research on risks of electronic devices was issued regularly but was often contradictory.

Speaking by cellphone last night, New Zealand Cancer Society medical director Chris Atkinson called the study's results "interesting", but said local experts would have to consider them carefully for any correlation here.

"I could be wrong, but I don't think there's been an increased incidence in the number of brain tumours in adult New Zealanders ... and New Zealand has been a society that has embraced cellphone technology."

Cellphones are very very bad for people's health. Ubiquitous cell towers are another problem in our urban environments. Cellphones suck money from you. They engender an artificial way of living, thinking, and interacting with the environment. They encourage and facilitate illicit relationships (Finnish minister latest politician sunk by texting). If you are serious about brahmacarya, I recommend getting rid of the cellphone. Don't carry around a private place to talk with the opposite sex on your person. "Oh, but I'm okay" you might say. Yeah sure, you might be, but what about the people who are not? How about setting an example for them? When single men and women have cellphones they can easily enter into inappropriate relationships. It's just another unnecessary threat vector. OK, so I don't want to sound like the Taleban here, but...

You do not need a cellphone. I cite as supporting evidence General Paul K. Van Riper destroying 16 US Navy warships in the Persian Gulf during war games using extremely low tech. See my 2006 article The Network is the Preacher - part 7 for some more analysis of this and its application to preaching. You can be effective in preaching without a cellphone. In fact more so because you focus on leading through organic systems and culture, rather than through personal control.

Please also see this article on the relationship between technology and bhajan: Technology and Worship - Megabytes and their Maker

Oh, by the way, congratulations to Cubans. Now that Fidel Castro has resigned, his brother Raul is allowing all Cubans to get cellphones. Because like, they have no quality of life without them...