Cell Phones are Dangerous

Cell Phones are Dangerous

Introduction

The extensive or we can say very common use of cell phones in majority of the countries in the world now affects consumer culture and social innovation in a range of settings including social groups for instance friends, family and intimate networks, in addition to across broader social networks including business, employment and services such as education and medicine (Burgess, 2004). The uses and applications of cell phone digital content and services are becoming increasingly sophisticated when compared to basic, though popular, traditional services such as SMS. MMS and applications and mobile e-mail and Internet applications along with global positioning system (GPS) enabled handsets and the iPhone have made a defining impact on the business end and experience end of consumer culture. The growing economic, cultural, and social impact of cellular digital services and content is proved in Southeast Asian and European nations particularly and will take on greater significance in the social and cultural life of society in other regions, as the main carriers of telecommunication hand over to 3G broadband and associated improved and much better services in the upcoming years (Burgess, 2004). However besides all these advancements and positive aspects, cell phones have also become a threat to human life in a number of ways. Here in this paper we will discuss how cell phones are dangerous and unsafe for humanity.

Discussion

In the U.S., typical cell phone contracts can offer the customer with a new phone every eighteen to twenty-four months. Majority of consumers may choose to switch phones more often than that in response to the rapid improvement of products and releases of premium offerings like the Blackberry and the iPhone (Facts on File, 2010). The potential electronic waste of discarding these millions of old cellular phones a year is considerable, as is the amount of raw materials used to manufacture the new ones, and even the valuable copper and gold included in small amounts in each phone. Federal and state agencies have encouraged initiatives to recycle cell phones and cell phone accessories, as they do with all electronic waste; in some states, such as California, such recycling is mandatory. Although often ignored, such laws have succeeded in increasing the recycling rate somewhat; the Environmental Protection Agency reported that the recycling rate for cell phones was ten percent from 2006 to 2007 compared with eighteen percent for electronic waste in general. Of the one hundred and forty million cell phones that were disposed of that year, fourteen million were recycled, and the remaining one hundred and twenty-six million were simply thrown away. A number of charities accept donated cell phones, which have their data wiped and are refurbished for reuse (Facts on File, 2010).

One reason electronic waste is such a growing concern is that there is more to a discarded cell phone that just its plastic casing. The small amounts of metals used, although harmless when inside a phone carried in your pocket, are dangerous when they build up in the environment, ...