| People have been afraid to have cell towers placed nearby (like on roof of multi-story housing they live in). But what's funny & non-intuitive: Whatever that cell tower puts out in radiation, only a small fraction reaches you (distance from antenna & power level decreases with square of that distance). But your phone otoh, many people hold it right next to their head. So it likely puts more radio power into your head than cell tower on roof. Which is already a worst case - cell towers are usually much further away. But your phone is always near while in use. Then the next non-intuitive: your phone adjusts transmit power to reach the cell tower it's in contact with. What happens when that tower is far away? Higher transmit power from your phone (again: more radio power entering your head). How to minimize? Place more cell towers! So that one is always nearby. On the extreme: with cell towers 'on every street corner', both those towers & your phone could use much lower transmit power. But cell towers everywhere is exactly the opposite of what most people want. Logic... Okay, cell tower may transmit 24/7, while your phone only transmits now & then. But I need not tell you how long some people talk on their phone. If you're really worried about this, either use speakerphone option (so phone isn't next to your head), or use a Bluetooth headset. Personally I think phone health effects exist, but more likely due to psychological effects of doomscrolling, social media use, etc. And effects on sleep of too-bright screens / phone use right before bed time. Phone under your pillow / just playing a (non-online) game: phone is not transmitting. EM radiation due to high-frequency cpu/gpu etc is negligable compared to transmit power. And phone in pants pocket: the (low! but non-0) danger here is the battery popping. Not RF. Probably a bigger health issue: using one's phone while driving. Or a car hitting you because that driver was busy with their phone. |
I'd agree, there are far more studies floating around that claim measurable impacts on peoples mental health from social media which is typically delivered via smart phone.
I would venture a guess that a sunburn, essentially a radiation burn, and has more health impacts than cell tower radiation.