The 9th grade girls were sitting in class when the teacher explained the rules for the upcoming science fair. They had to come up with a project that was not only original, but also had to be interesting. At first, they decided to study cellphone radiation and the effect it had on humans, but they realized they didn’t have access to the equipment. So the girls designed an experiment that would test the effect of cellphone radiation on plants instead. They placed six trays with water cress, a fast growing plant, into a room without radiation and six trays with the same plant next to two Wi-Fi routers that, at least according to their calculations, emitted the same amount of radiation as a cell phone. Over the next 12 days, they observed, weighed and photographed their results. By the end of the experiment the results were blatantly obvious — the cress seeds placed near the routers had not grown. Many of them were completely dead. Meanwhile, the cress seeds planted in the other room, away from the routers, thrived. That’s right. The radiation from Wi-Fi routers kills living things. Now, this was a real story that took the world by storm, back in 2013.
The girls in the story were Danish students that noticed that if they slept with their mobile phones near their heads at night, they often had difficulty concentrating at school the next day. That’s right. They noticed that if they slept with a radiation emitting device by their heads, they had trouble thinking the next day. But how could this be?
Cancer.gov, a part of the American government’s National Cancer Institute public outreach program, notes that — “Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy (radio waves), a form of non-ionizing radiation, from their antennas. Tissues nearest to the antenna can absorb this energy.” And while the rest of the presentation on the website goes on to note that there are no direct causes, as of yet, between cell phones and health issues, others are not so sure.
Back in May of 2016, CNN ran a story titled — “Cell phone radiation increases cancers in rats, but should we worry?” In the article, it noted that — “researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences gave rats high doses of radiation every day for two years and compared them with rats that did not receive radiation. The researchers looked at how many animals developed tumors in the brain and in nerve cells of the heart.”
The article continued — “The researchers found that 2% to 3% of the hundreds of male rats that were irradiated developed brain tumors, compared with none of the control rats. The number of female rats that developed these cancers was smaller, about 1% of the animals, and could have been due to chance. Similarly, between 2% and 7% of the irradiated male rats developed heart tumors, compared with only about 2% of the irradiated female rats and none of the control rats.” So, on the face of it, this study does appear to reflect that something is happening at the molecular level.
It also seems to be as if people are using phones even more than ever. A Pew survey noted that — “Americans treat their cellphones like “body appendages,” since 90 percent said they “frequently” carry it with them while 76 percent said they rarely or never turn their phones off. “ Maybe this is why those internet meme’s – “Would you live in this shack in the woods for 3 days without your smartphone for 1 million dollars” get so many likes.
In addition to the increasing amounts of cell phone radiation that we are willing subjecting ourselves to, there is also the growing use of tablets to live in a virtual world. In fact, an E-marketer survey found that — “among teenagers who use smart phones and tablets, 45 percent spend more than four hours each weekday using the mobile Internet, and more than a quarter log on for more than five hours a day on average.”
The Federalist took it one step further-“But it’s not just smartphones and tablets. The entire universe of online media is gradually dominating the lives of millennials. One disturbing example of this is the intersection of low workforce participation among men in their twenties without a college degree and the amount of time they spend playing video games. Economist Erik Hurst found this demographic group increased their leisure time by about four hours per week between 2000 and 2015, mostly because they were working less. Three of these four hours were used to play video games.” That’s right, less work, less face-to-face-interaction, less physical activity and more living in a virtual world.
And speaking of living in a virtual world, the Kotaku website reported just a few days ago that — “ …a rare Pokémon has been spotted in Tokyo. Loads of people have shown up to catch it, and the crowds have become so big that the police were called in to handle the situation.” That’s right. Police in Japan were called in to deal with a real world reaction to a situation in a virtual world. But, it gets better.
The website continued by writing — “Folks have been running to catch Lapras, ignoring traffic lights in the process and causing all sorts of headaches, hazards and potential accidents. Because of the Pokémon’s location, people are overwhelming the roads and spilling out into traffic.” In fact, there have been several deaths related to the Pokémon Go game since it was released.
Maybe that is why the Independent wrote — “This cliché is pretty tired now — people veering blindly along pavements, their eyes glued to their phones, absent-mindedly sending little old ladies flying and generally leaving a trail of destruction in their wake…” In fact, the article continued by writing — “Every year, Germany chooses an official 'Youth Word', the culmination of the annual Youth Word of the Year contest organised by Langenscheidt. Last year, the word they chose was "smombie"; the "smartphone zombie".
How can it be possible that in a world that is becoming even more interconnected, that we, as common people have become even more isolated? And even more disconnected from reality? In a world that is drawing nearer and nearer to another world war, a war of the likes that has never seen before, is it possible for people to just put their smart phones down and see what is going on? To see that there is a darkness taking over? To see that people are being manipulated on so many levels and on some many fronts, all in the name of chasing the so-called “Truth” that to discover these falsehoods would shatter their manufactured reality? How is it even possible to have an honest conversation, when people aren’t even talking the same language? To quote Orwell-“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”.
So, what do you think dear listeners — “Are you a Smombie?”
We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com
