October 25, 2010: Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone

Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone: youtube.com/watch?v=Lnh_U5BXZiY

I've been reading up on cell phones and their radioactive properties. I've been watching news pieces too. I've been told, through this research, that cell phones emit small amounts of radiation which, if you use your cell phone too much, can increase your chances of developing brain cancer.

Cancer. In your brain.

And the radiation emitted from your phone is the reason why your face gets hot if you talk on your phone for extended periods of time. That is your face absorbing radiation.

Anyway, I had a bit of a freak out yesterday that made me shake. I was at the grocery store and I suddenly realized that my leg was hot. Then I thought about how I keep my phone in my pocket. Then I made the connection. Then I thought about the radiation entering my leg, right next to my testicles. And I freaked out a little.

I don't know what to do with my phone now. I can't keep it in my pocket with everything I've been told. Have you ever read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood? One of the main characters in the novel has this experience where he walks through a chicken processing lab and they're genetically engineering chickens so that they have no bones and no beaks, basically no "waste," just living blobs, and they sell these chickens to a chicken fast food restaurant. It's a truly disgusting scene. And the main character goes on eating the chicken from this fast food restaurant for the rest of the novel, despite what he knows about it.

And I remember feeling like that character was pathetic. How could one continue supporting the most disgusting of human endeavors, knowing the full extent of it's horror? And so casually too?

So I am having a problem with my cell phone. I would like to keep using it because it's a useful tool that has standardized our way of communication. But I refuse to wantonly increase the chances of getting cancer in my leg, in my testicles, or in my brain. The best I can do for now, I suppose, is just to keep it out of my pocket and minimize my phone use. Granted, I don't use it very often because I'm on a pay as you go plan and that can get costly; I generally keep phone conversations to a minimum and rely on text. But that's the best I can do for now.

Am I as pathetic as that character?