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.
Distracted Driving
By far, the most dangerous circumstance involving cell phone use is driving while using it. Distracted driving is defined as driving while paying attention to a hand-held device in most cases but can include taking your eyes off the road for any reason, including looking at a GPS, tuning the radio, retrieving something you dropped, grooming yourself or paying too much attention to the good-looking man or woman walking down the street. You’ve probably seen examples of distracted driving many times as you tool down the road. The tell-tale sign is someone whose head is bent with eyes cast downward, giving them little time to react if someone stops short, lights change, or if a pedestrian or animal does something unexpected.
The United States Department of Transportation reports that distracted drivers cause one in four motor vehicle accidents. In 2013, the last year statistics are available, more than 3,100 people lost their lives in motor vehicles as a result of distracted driving. More than 420,000 people were injured in crashes involving the practice. That’s why so many public service campaigns are geared toward drivers who should focus on driving only.
The National Occupant Protection Use Survey is a probability-based research group. It claims that more than 600,000 drivers use cell phones or other electronic devices while driving. It also reports that 25 percent of teenage drivers will text messages while driving or have an extended conversation on their phones.
What does that mean in a car traveling 50 miles per hour or more? The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute reports that it increases your likelihood of an accident by three times.
Cell Phone Explosions
Some cell phones that are left charging too long can explode. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that it has received “dozens” of reports of exploding cell phones, some of which went off when a person was either talking or had the device in a pocket. The explosion is caused by the lithium battery expanding when it’s over-charged. The gases in the battery expand, causing the burst.
Electric Shock
CNN reported that a woman in China was electrocuted while answering a phone call when her phone was charging. While the odds are very low, it is possible that something in the wall unit’s wiring can interact with a defective charger, causing an electric arc. If the person is wet – as the Chinese woman was, after leaving her bath to answer the phone – then the conductivity of the water combined with a defective charger, faulty wiring and a frayed cord may combine for the perfect storm.
Cell Phone Cancer Risks?
A cell phone emits radiofrequency energy (also known as radio waves). As you hold it to your ear, tissues can absorb this energy. As the cell phone becomes more and more a part of your body and frequently used for all sorts of tasks, you likely absorb more and more of this energy. There are no definitive long-term studies on what this exposure to non-ionizing radiation can do to the body. However, some studies have shown that there are effects from cell phone use, albeit minor ones involving tissues metabolizing body glucose. Most studies have shown no effect, but a limited number have produced some evidence of cell phone use correlated with brain tumor risks. These studies have largely been dismissed but cannot be discounted.
Distracted Walking
Many people have taken to walking down the street and paying close attention to their cell phone, whether through talking or texting. If there’s a pothole, open hole or oncoming traffic, the cell phone holder may not see it.
A study in the in the August 2013 issue of Accident Analysis and Prevention found that more than 1,500 pedestrians were treated in emergency rooms because of injuries sustained while using a cell phone while walking. The study was done in 2010 and showed that incidents more than doubled, which led the study’s co-author to predict that it would double again by 2015. Most the injured were between ages 16 to 25 and were injured while talking on their phones.
Of course, most of the incidents involving cell phones are things that can be easily avoided by paying attention, not handling electronic devices while wet, not stressing the device’s limits and by cutting back slightly on your use. It’s not time to give up your phone. Just be aware of the circumstances when it may be out to get you.