There are more cell phones than humans in the United States, and that’s quite a statement, given that there are more than 300 million Americans. The Pew Research Institute claims 90 percent of American adults own a cell phone, and some 29 percent of those owners claim that they can’t imagine living without their smartphone. That’s as of October 2014. That number has grown – and likely will continue to grow -- exponentially.

Yes, the smartphone, introduced just in the 1990s, has become as ubiquitous and necessary to modern society as electric lights and the television. They are used for communication, texting, emailing, reading and gaming, keeping track of appointments, as alarm clocks, and checking the weather, among a million other applications. They’re even a good tool for checking out the latest funny videos on cats.

Most people spend the day with their mobile phones lying within easy reach. Little do they dream that there are many ways that their electronic BFF can kill them. Yes, the mobile phone is a communications godsend, but it’s also something that can provide fatal distractions, deadly radiation, explosions or electrocution. There have been documented examples of disasters in all those instances, making the smartphone the average American's most commonly used deadly device.

Like nuclear energy, the smartphone can provide a service to humanity. But used in ways that it shouldn’t can prove to be a fatal mistake. While something terrible likely won’t happen to you, there are any number of people who have experienced fatal issues with their cell phones.

Here are a few ways your phone can kill you.