Are cells the new cigarettes?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/opinion/27dowd.html?src=me&ref=general
<snip>
Just as parents now tell their kids that, believe it or not, there was a time when nobody knew that cigarettes and tanning were bad for you, those kids may grow up to tell their kids that, believe it or not, there was a time when nobody knew how dangerous it was to hold your phone right next to your head and chat away for hours.

We don’t yet really know the physical and psychological impact of being slaves to technology. We just know that technology is a narcotic. We’re living in the cloud, in a force field, so afraid of being disconnected and plunged into a world of silence and stillness that even if scientists told us our computers would make our arms fall off, we’d probably keep typing.

Sure enough, when the bill passed Tuesday, CTIA issued a petulant statement that after 2010, it would relocate its annual three-day fall exhibition, with 68,000 exhibitors and attendees and “$80 million” in business, away from San Francisco.

“Since our bill is relatively benign,” Newsom said, “it begs the question, why did they work so hard and spend so much money to kill it? I’ve become more fearful, not less, because of their reaction. It’s like BP. Shouldn’t they be doing whatever it takes to protect their global shareholders?”

So now we have Exhibit No. 1,085 illustrating the brazenness of Big Business.

and a long distance conversation was with a neighbor on a porch across the street.

Man, I have gotten OLD.

Hey, you! PUNK! Get off my lawn!

to use the phone.

I despise the cell phone, and usually put it on speakerphone. I do use it to call a cab, and do text, but after seeing a report on what the towers do to people who work on them, I don't chat for hours with the thing at my ear.

were considered crazy.

Could only get on the phone when no one else was on it. Big old black bakalite phone with a dial.

And everyone tried to listen in to my mother's conversations.......she'd swear, or whistle, or tell my father someone was a B*** and you'd hear clicks all up and down.

...and not biological cells or small rooms.

You had to actually walk in to the bank and talk to a teller to get any of your money out. There were always lines out the doors on Friday because of paydays, and people needing to get enough money to last through Monday morning.

Maureen Dowd is the new Ann Flanders.

Used judiciously, they facilitate communication.

Used while driving, they can kill you and others.

can't be good for the tissue that absorbs the immediate radiation. We will see an exponential increase in tumors and cancer from such objects. Oh, BTW, I wouldn't advise keeping that laptop on your lap either.

And indeed, the radiation is scaled to how difficult it is to transmit to the closest tower, if you are close to a tower your transmit power when using the phone is throttled back.

I use a cell a fair bit but I rarely hold it to my ear for more than a few moments, I prefer speakerphone or headphones since I have trouble understanding people when I only use one ear.