Cell Phone Etiquette: 15 Rules To Follow

Cell Phone Etiquette: 15 Rules To Follow Cell phones have invaded our classrooms and our bedrooms, our restaurants and our theaters, our offices and our streets. CellPhones.org has put together a helpful list of cell phone etiquette tips. Check them out below. 1. Lower your voice when taking calls in public. 2. Avoid personal topics when others can hear you. 3. Avoid taking calls when you are already in a face-to-face conversation. If you do take a call, ask permission of the people with you. 4. Avoid texting during face-to-face conversations. 5. Put your phone s ringer on silent when in restaurants and movie theaters. 6. Don t light up your screen when in a dark movie theater. 7. Hang up and drive. At any given time, about 3% of people driving are simultaneously talking on their phones. 8. Acknowledge the delay. All cell phones involve latency, which means there is a delay when you speak and when the other person hears it. 9. Don t use Google Voice call screening with family and close friends. 10. Don t blame the other person for a dropped call. If you make 100 calls a week, you can expect to experience between 2-4 dropped calls each and every week. 11. Avoid looking things up during a conversation. 12. Avoid inappropriate profile picture. Facebook lets users synchronize contact information, including profile pictures, with their cell phone address books. Many higher-quality phones show your pictures on the screen when you call. 13. Be mindful about Facebook tagging. When you snap a photo with your phone and tag someone in it, you re showing the picture to all of his Facebook friends. 14. Observe the 10-foot proximity rule. Keep a distance of 10 feet from the nearest person when talking on a cell phone. 15. Avoid phone tag. If a game of phone tag goes on for four calls, it is within the boundaries of proper etiquette to end the game and stop calling. If one of the parties on a game of phone tag leaves a message that says. Tag, you re it, you are free to not return the call. Some additional guidelines: Use please and thank you even when texting Choose your ring tone wisely (no annoying or vulgar tones) Always take calls from the person paying the bill Remember that your text messages can end up on someone s MySpace or Facebook page. Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 1

Cell Phones and Radiation According to the FDA and others, the research data does not show that mobile phone radio frequency emissions have adverse health effects, but there is not enough information at this point to conclude that these products are not without risk. While most epidemiological and laboratory studies related to the radio frequency emissions of mobile phones have found no adverse health effects, the results of some studies have raised questions that require further research. U.S General Accounting Office Report on Mobile Phone Health Issues Top 10 U.S. Phones for Lowest Radiation. 1. Beyond E-Tech Duet D8 2. Samsung Eternity SGH-A867 3. Samsung Blue Earth 4. Samsung SGH-G800 5. Samsung Soul 6. Samsung Impression SGH-A877 7. Samsung Innov8 8. Beyond E-Tech Duet D888 9. Samsung SGH-T229 10. Dero PhoneEasy 410 Top 10 U.S. Phones for Highest Radiation. 1. Motorola V195s 2. Motorola Zine ZN5 3. Motorola Rival 4. Kyocera Jax S1300 5. Motorola VU204 6. RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 7. Motorola Crush 8. Nokia E71x 9. Pantech Matrix 10. LG Rumor 2 A cellphone user s level of exposure depends on several factors, including: The number and duration of calls The distance from the nearest base station The size of the headset Whether or not a hands-free device is used The amount of cellular traffic The quality of the cellular transmission How far the antenna is extended. Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 2

If you are concerned about limiting your exposure, here are a few easy steps: Text instead of placing a phone call Carry your phone at least one inch from your body Use a wireless headset Do not sleep with your cell phone next to your bed Some researchers also caution against using your cell phone in areas of poor coverage, since phone emit more radiation when searching for a signal. Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 3

Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cellphone? Warning: Holding a cellphone against your ear may be hazardous to your health. So may stuffing it in a pocket against your body. I m paraphrasing here. But the legal departments of cellphone manufacturers slip a warning about holding the phone against your head or body into the fine print of the little slip that you toss aside when unpacking your phone. Apple, for example, doesn t want iphones to come closer than 5/8 of an inch; Research In Motion, BlackBerry s manufacturer, is still more cautious: keep a distance of about an inch. The warnings may be missed by an awful lot of customers. The United States has 292 million wireless numbers in use, approaching one for every adult and child, according to C.T.I.A.-The Wireless Association, the cellphone industry s primary trade group. It says that as of June, about a quarter of domestic households were wireless-only. If health issues arise from ordinary use of this hardware, it would affect not just many customers but also a huge industry. Our voice calls we chat on our cellphones 2.26 trillion minutes annually, according to the C.T.I.A. generate $109 billion for the wireless carriers. The cellphone instructions warnings were brought to my attention by Devra Davis, an epidemiologist who has worked for the University of Pittsburgh and has published a book about cellphone radiation, Disconnect. I had assumed that radiation specialists had long ago established that worries about low-energy radiation were unfounded. Her book, however, surveys the scientific investigations and concludes that the question is not yet settled. Brain cancer is a concern that Ms. Davis takes up. Over all, there has not been a general increase in its incidence since cellphones arrived. But the average masks an increase in brain cancer in the 20-to-29 age group and a drop for the older population. Most cancers have multiple causes, she says, but she points to laboratory research that suggests mechanisms by which low-energy radiation could damage cells in ways that could possibly lead to cancer. Children are more vulnerable to radiation than adults, Ms. Davis and other scientists point out. Radiation that penetrates only two inches into the brain of an adult will reach much deeper into the brains of children because their skulls are thinner and their brains contain more absorptive fluid. No field studies have been completed to date on cellphone radiation and children, she says. Henry Lai, a research professor in the bioengineering department at the University of Washington, began laboratory radiation studies in 1980 and found that rats exposed to radiofrequency radiation had damaged brain DNA. He maintains a database that holds 400 scientific papers on possible biological effects of radiation from wireless communication. He found that 28 percent of studies with cellphone industry funding showed some sort of effect, while 67 percent of studies without such funding did so. That s not trivial, he said. The unit of measurement for radiofrequency exposure is called the specific absorption rate, or SAR. The Federal Communications Commission mandates that the SAR produced by phones be no more than 1.6 watts per kilogram. One study listed by Mr. Lai found effects like loss of memory in rats exposed to SAR values in the range of Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 4

0.0006 to 0.06 watts per kilogram. I did not expect to see effects at low levels, he said. The city of San Francisco passed an ordinance this year that requires cellphone retailers to post SARs prominently. This angered the C.T.I.A., which announced that it would no longer schedule trade shows in the city. The association maintains that all F.C.C.-approved phones are perfectly safe. John Walls, the association s vice president for public affairs, said: What science tells us is, If the sign on the highway says safe clearance is 12 feet, it doesn t matter if your vehicle is 4 feet, 6 feet or 10 feet tall; you re going to pass through safely. The same theory applies to SAR values and wireless devices. The association has set up a separate Web site, cellphonehealthfacts.com. Four attractive young people are seen on the home page, each with a cellphone pressed against the ear and all four are beaming as they listen. By this visual evidence, cellphone use seems to be correlated with elation, not cancer. The largest study of cellphone use and brain cancer has been the Interphone International Case-Control Study, in which researchers in 13 developed countries (but not the United States) participated. It interviewed brain cancer patients, 30 to 59 years old, from 2000 to 2004, then cobbled together a control group of people who had not regularly used a cellphone. The study concluded that using a cellphone seemed to decrease the risk of brain tumors, which the authors acknowledged was implausible and a product of the study s methodological shortcomings. The authors included some disturbing data in an appendix available only online. These showed that subjects who used a cellphone 10 or more years doubled the risk of developing brain gliomas, a type of tumor. The 737 minutes that we talk on cellphones monthly, on average, according to the C.T.I.A., makes today s typical user indistinguishable from the heavy user of 10 years ago. Ms. Davis recommends keeping a phone out of close proximity to the head or body, by using wired headsets or the phone s speaker. Children should text rather than call, she said, and pregnant women should keep phones away from the abdomen. The F.C.C. concurs about the best way to avoid exposure. It is not by choosing a phone with a marginally lower SAR, it says, but rather by holding the cellphone away from the head or body. It s advice that I find hard to put into practice myself. The comforting sight of everyone around me with phones pressed against their ears, just like me, makes the risk seem abstract. But Ms. Davis, citing unsettling findings from research in Israel, France, Sweden and Finland, said, I do think I m looking at an epidemic in slow motion. Source: Randall Stross, New York Times, November 13, 2010 Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 5

Cell Phone Etiquette: 15 Rules To Follow Cell Phones and Radiation Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cell Phone? 1. The homepage of the CellPhones.org website would be useful for all of the following purposes EXCEPT? A. Tips on privacy measures like tagging photos and saved text messages. B. Advice on what to do with cell phones when talking to your boss. C. Directions on how to delete contacts from your phone list. D. Rules on using the phone when driving. 2. Which statement from Cell Phones and Radiation BEST supports the idea from Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cell Phone? that cell phones should not be within close distance from the body? A. Use a wireless headset. B. Do not sleep with your cell phone next to your bed. C. Carry your phone at least one inch from your body. D. Text instead of placing a call. 3. Which statement from Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cell Phone? BEST supports the idea that the public doesn t take cell phone risks seriously? A. Four attractive young people are seen on the home page of cellphonehealthfacts.com with a phone against their ear. B. The comforting sight of everyone with phones pressed against their ears, just like me, makes the risk seem abstract. C. The study concluded that using a cell phone seemed to decrease the risk of brain tumors. D. Children should text rather than call. 4. The three passages on cell phone usage would be useful for all of the following EXCEPT: A. Designing your own website page for cell phone safety. B. Helping cell phone users display proper manners when using their phone. C. Choosing a phone with low radiation. D. Limiting cell phone exposure. Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 6

5. Read the following sentence from the passage: Children are more vulnerable to radiation than adults. What does the word vulnerable mean in the sentence above? A. Protected B. Sheltered C. Susceptible D. Guarded 6. Which pair of words from the passage Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cell Phone? is most similar in meaning? A. Implausible, Indistinguishable B. Unsettling, Comforting C. Beaming, Elation D. Trivial, Proximity 7. Which sentence best summarizes the passage, Cell Phones and radiation? A. There is no concrete evidence stating that mobile phones are a risk factor but research has raised enough questions that might lead consumers to want to take precautions. B. Consumers should never purchase a Motorola phone. C. Consumers are warned against living in cities with poor cell phone coverage. D. People who do not use Cell Phones are without risk. 8. The author used bulleted points in Cell Phones and Radiation in order to A. Give subtle hints of what they will learn later in the text. B. Draw reader s attention to important points. C. Take a stand on an argument. D. Propose a problem to a solution. Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 7

AOW 8 ANSWER KEY 1.C (LA.910.6.1.1) 2.C (LA.910.6.2.2) 3.B (LA.910.1.7.3) 4.A (LA.910.6.2.2) 5.C (LA.910. 1.6.3) 6.C (LA.910.1.6.8) 7.A (LA.910.1.7.3) 8.B (LA.910.6.1.1) Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 13, 2011 8