Connecting People or Problems?

According to the telephone surveys carried out the basic idea which came out was that households mostly have one fixed landline phone. For those households having multiple phones, there are specific handling instructions.  Mobile phones are different from fixed phones in several ways. Typically, a mobile phone is a personal appliance, which is carried all the time, whereas a fixed phone is for the whole household purpose and is kept in one place. A mobile phone could be compared to a wristwatch and fixed phone to a clock on the wall.

The popularity of the mobile phones has been increasing very rapidly. There are certain professions that have gained extremely from it. Mobiles have become requisite to doctors, businessmen, bureaucrats, executives and journalists, among others. The mobile has eliminated economic barriers and is being used by people of all income groups.

Their potential health risks have been hotly debated over the last couple of years, especially with regard to cancer, but evidence is inconclusive either way. Now, the use of proteomics for studying the biological effects of mobile phone radiation has been proposed.

Mobile phones provide freedom to communicate without limiting freedom of movement. This can be a blessing or a curse, depending upon your viewpoint. The growth in their use seems to have been mirrored by a mysterious growth in the number of tunnels that cause loss of signal.

The popularity of mobiles seem to have been affected neither by public annoyance at their intrusion into the lives of others, nor by the various health scares that have surfaced. There have been reports that the radiation emitted by the phones can cause cancer. Use of a mobile while driving or riding can be positively dangerous and accidents are caused by the drivers talking on mobiles. If reports are to be believed, constant use of the mobile could be a factor in the early onset of Parkinson's Disease. Life was full of leisure, adventurous and free in the good old pre-mobile days. For all the talk about connecting people, the mobile has reduced real intimacy and person-to-person communication.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR