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Mobile Phones
I hate them! I love them! I want one! I'll never
get one! I've got one! I've got five!
Do you have one? Do you want one? Do you love them or hate them? Most people
agree that the use of mobile phones has been one of the greatest social changes
of the past decade. Ten years ago it was quite rare to see people using them.
Now it seems that everyone has got one, including those people (I'm one of
them) who used to say 'I'll never get one of those'!
In this feature, we find out what you think about mobile phones and test
your knowledge to find out how much you know about this cellular world!
1. What were the first words ever spoken on a telephone?
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When were mobile phones invented?
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Mobile phones are a combination of ....
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How many people own them?
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Where are they most popular?
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What does CUL8R mean?
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What does WAP stand for?
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What is Orange?
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8. In 1999, what was the most-requested Christmas present?
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Why do teachers hate mobiles?
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Why do the emergency services hate mobile phones?
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Are mobiles destroying family life?
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Are phones equally popular with men and women?
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Are mobile phones bad for your health?Links have been made between.....
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Should mobiles carry health warnings like cigarettes?
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Are mobiles addictive?
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Can mobile phones be good for your brain?
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“Watson, come here; I want you”.
They were spoken by Alexander Graham-Bell, the Scottish-born inventor, to
his assistant, Thomas Watson, on March 10, 1876.
Cellular, or mobile phones were invented in
the 1980s. They were originally used in cars, aeroplanes, and trains.
Mobile phones are a combination of
a radio and a telephone. The handset is a radio transmitter and receiver.
Mobiles are linked to the national telephone system by "base stations" -
there are thousands of these in each country. When a mobile is switched on
it releases a signal every 20 seconds to the nearest base station, so the
location of the phone is known and it can receive and make calls. With mobile
phones the sound is sent and received as a "micro radiowave".
It is now estimated that 190 million people
own mobile phones in the world. In the UK, four in ten people own mobile
phones.
The most developed country in the world
is Finland where 65% of the population now carry mobile phones (99% of 16
to 24-year-olds). Other countries are trying hard to catch up! It is estimated
that there are now more than 20 million cellular phones in Italy, which has
a population of 57 million. It's the fastest growing industry in the country,
and Italians have become obsessed with the mobile phone. Forecasts suggest
that there will be 1 billion mobile phones in use around the world by 2003.
Curiously, the new technology is much more popular in Europe than in North
America. In the US, around 29% of the population own mobile phones while
in Canada the figure is around 20%. The problem with the US and Canadian
markets is that they have a system where the person receiving the call is
billed instead of the person making the call. This makes users reluctant
to leave their phones switched on. The size of the US and Canada has also
meant national networks have been slow to develop.
Apart from being able to speak on mobile
phones, you can also use them for sending messages, using SMS (short messaging
service). Messages can by “typed” using the phone's keys. They
then appear on the other person's screen. The UK's largest phone network
handles 60 million messages each month. SMS is particularly popular with
young people because sending messages is cheaper than talking to the other
person. The disadvantage is that messages have to be short because of the
limited space. This has led to users inventing a new language in order to
say something without having to write complete words. For example, ILY means
“I love you”, PLS means “please” and TKY means “thank
you”. CUL8R means “see you later”.
WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol,
which enables mobile phones to access the Internet at speeds as high as PC
modems. WAP handsets are expensive but the experts predict that by 2005,
there will be more people using WAP handsets to access the net than those
using computers. Microsoft recently announced a joint venture with mobile
phone maker Ericsson to develop WAP software in order to dominate the wireless
Internet market. Initially, users will be able to retrieve news, sports results,
television and cinema listings. Eventually services will include e-mail.
Orange is the UK's third-largest mobile phone
operator and this spring it's launching a palm-held 'videophone' that will
allow users to see as well as hear each other. However, the videophone is
viewed with suspicion by the three other UK mobile operators, who believe
it is too difficult to send pictures with the current wireless devices. The
videophone will use a new technology that allows it to transmit video images
at 12 frames per second - half the speed of a television.
According to the BBC Newsround TV programme,
mobile phones were the most-requested Christmas gift by people aged 10 to
15. They were more popular than traditional toys and even computer games.
Phone companies are now deliberately targeting children. There's even a Nintendo
phone being produced in Japan. The introduction of pre-pay services (the
user buys an amount of call time) has meant that parents can give their children
phones without worrying about huge bills at the end of the month. Pre-pay
services now account for more than 80% of sales.
Whereas parents like their children to have
phones so that they can locate them and find out what they're doing, teachers
hate them! Teachers' representatives say that the deluge of phones with messaging
facilities, will lead to cheating in exams and bullying. Some UK schools
have banned mobiles because their bleeps and tunes disrupt lessons! Doug
McAvoy of the British National Union of Teachers, says: "It is not only the
person phoning or being phoned whose education is being disturbed - it is
the progress of the entire class.”
There are lots of stories of people
who claim their lives were saved by mobile phones. A man hanging from a cliff
managed to press the call key with his nose and shout for help. But there
are also people who have run out of petrol in the middle of nowhere and found
that they don't have phone coverage. Emergency services have also complained
about the number of accidental calls that they get. In the UK, the number
of these calls has risen to 80,000 per year. Apparently, people sit on their
phones and accidentally press the call key!
Although many people have claimed that mobiles
and the Internet are destroying the family, the opposite seems to be true.
A survey recently found that people with mobile phones have a richer network
of social contacts than those without. Mobile phone users make an average
of 19 calls to family or friends every week, compared with 13 by those dependent
on traditional telephones. When faced with the choice of giving up either
their mobile or their traditional phone, a majority of people opted to keep
the mobile.
The rise of communications technologies has failed to close the gender gap
in attitudes to the use of the phone as a social tool. Three out of four
women surveyed agreed with the statement 'I really enjoy using the telephone',
compared with half of the men. And a third of the women said they organised
all or almost all of their social engagements, compared with fewer than one
in 10 men.
Links have been made between mobiles
and cancer (brain tumours), increased blood pressure, memory loss, learning
difficulties, tiredness, harm to unborn children, skin tingling, burning
or twitching, eye tics, and buzzing in the head. Concerns are based on the
radio waves which are used to transmit and receive mobile telephone calls.
Radio waves can pass through the body and when they do, some of their energy
can be absorbed - this movement of energy is known as "radiation". All electrical
goods (from TVs to microwave ovens) give off a certain amount of radiation
but this is seen as harmless. However some radiation (such as X-rays) is
harmful to the body and can lead to cancer and genetic defects. The micro
radiowaves used by mobile phones are heat producing and cause a slight warming
effect to the head and neck because these are the parts of the body the phone
is close to. The question is, could this type of radiation be dangerous?
Most experts say no. The best way to avoid the problem is to use a hands-free
phone, which means you don't have to hold the handset to your head.
Most
people can choose whether or not to use a mobile phone and decide if there
is a health risk. But while cellular phone use involves an element of personal
choice, mobile phone masts don't. The masts are now a common sight in most
countries. The phone companies say they are safe but Sir Richard Doll, the
scientist who made the link between smoking and lung cancer, says: "We should
keep our minds open to the possibility that this radiation could be harmful,
because it is man-made and our bodies have not been exposed to it throughout
evolution." A lot of people are already reporting symptoms from what they
say is exposure to mobile phone masts, ranging from headaches to sleep disorders
and neurological problems. There are currently more than 200 campaign groups
in the UK protesting that further research is needed. In June last year a
hospital refused an offer of £60,000 for placing a mobile phone transmitter
on its roof. Health managers said the potential risk to patients was too
great. Mobile phone companies are facing hostility from parents and councils
over the growing number of transmitter masts appearing on schools. The New
Zealand government has banned these masts from anywhere within 500 metres
of schools and homes.’
Fears about radiation led to the European Parliament calling for all
mobile phones in Europe to carry health warnings. One thing everybody seems
to agree on is the need for more research. The World Health Organisation
is taking the issue seriously and is coordinating a massive research project
into the dangers of mobile phones, which will take around five years to complete.
One thing that cigarettes and mobile phones have in common is that they are
both addictive! A year ago, a study found that radiation from mobile phones
stimulates a morphine-like chemical in the brain, making them addictive.
The mobile 'high' is triggered by endorphins released in the brain when microwave
radiation from the phone enters through the ear!
Research published
last April suggested that a 30-minute handheld conversation might speed up
reaction times. A report in the International Journal of Radiation Biology
found that volunteers were able to think faster while using the phones and
performed better in a memory test immediately after using them. This effect
could be due to the slight warming of the brain leading to increased blood
flow.
