Over the past two decades, an invisible threat to our health has invaded our homes, workplaces, schools, and even restaurants.
I’m talking about Wi-Fi, the technology that wirelessly connects our computers, smartphones, TVs, and anything else that can go “online.”
If you remember the early days of computers, you needed to literally plug one in to access the internet. Now, all that data “flies” through the air… straight to your laptop.
And we connect without giving it a second thought. Lots of restaurants, even your dentist’s office, and the place you get your hair cut have Wi-Fi available.
Certainly, it’s amazing. But Wi-Fi is one of those high-tech advances where we leaped before we looked. But finally, a groundswell of concerned parents, educators, and scientists are taking notice.
And what they’re finding out is enough to scare you back into the land that high-tech forgot!
Activist and mom Dr. Kristy Goodwin, for example, talks about this constant, low-level radiation as potentially being the “asbestos of the 21st century.”
So, just like we did with that health hazard, which is still resulting in untold numbers of cancer cases, we need to start addressing the risks of Wi-Fi in our own homes.
And in a moment, I’ll share how you can make your house a “Wi-Fi-Free Zone” to protect not only yourself… but also the digitally “connected” children in your life!
The unseen menace
The risk of being bombarded just about everywhere you go by the kind of electromagnetic (or radio frequency) radiation Wi-Fi gives off is something a lot of people would rather just ignore.
And that’s easy enough to do, since you can’t see it… feel it… or smell it.
But now that this stealth menace is just about everywhere, it’s time for us to sit up and start paying attention.
As Dr. Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, says, we already have research “suggesting even low-level exposures” to this kind of radiation can cause a variety of “negative health effects.”
In fact, on his own website, he’s collected dozens of research papers on what it can do to lab animals — but it turns out that there’s plenty of evidence as to how it may impact people, too.
And now, scientists in the UK have finally compiled over 60 different studies on the “adverse” health effects of Wi-Fi radiation — and the collective research is disturbing, to say the least.
You may have already heard about how sleeping next to your phone might cause trouble sleeping — but frequently the focus is on that “blue light” that it emits, which can trick your body into thinking it’s still daytime (and even damage the insides of your eyes).
But it turns out that all that electromagnetic energy from the constant onslaught of Wi-Fi “pollution” is said to disrupt your body’s production of the sleep hormone melatonin and interrupt sleep patterns as well.
Plus that, the constant oxidative stress caused by exposure to this type of radiation can up your risk of heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and a host of other ailments… as well as short-circuit your immune system.
But here’s the kicker: Over six years ago, the World Health Organization listed radio frequency radiation (the kind Wi-Fi emits) as a “possible carcinogen.”
And yet our exposure to it has only increased over that period of time — with seemingly no concern for our safety!
It’s not just a hypothetical possibility, either — because numerous other studies (including one done by a major cellphone company) have found the type of damage this radiation can do is clearly linked to the development of cancer.
But without a doubt, the ones who will take the brunt of this will be our children.
No one can debate the fact that kids are hundreds of time more vulnerable than adults to the effects of radiation. As researchers from the University of California put it, children absorb more radiation because they have thinner skulls and their brain tissue is “more absorbent.”
So, perhaps having all these “smart” devices available to us inside and outside of our homes wasn’t such a bright idea after all.
Of course, unless you’re planning on moving to some locale in the middle of nowhere, there’s no escaping Wi-Fi. But there are some things you can do that will make your home environment safer.
The best thing you can do is turn off your Wi-Fi router and use a “hardwired” internet connection (a router is what gives off the wireless signal in your home).
Yes — you can still take a step back in the home computer revolution and start plugging in your computer to get online, just like in the “old days.” (Why, in France they recently passed a law banning Wi-Fi in places where they care for children under 3 years old.)
And like asbestos, the only way to eliminate the hazard is to remove it from your environment.
If your internet provider has given you a combined router and “modem” — the device connected to your phone line, cable, or satellite network — call them and ask to have a standalone modem installed, or simply buy one along with a router than allows you to turn off the Wi-Fi and directly plug in your computers.
It may seem a bit inconvenient. But if the risk turns out to be even half as bad as many scientists now believe, it will be well worth the effort.
“Is Wi-Fi killing us…slowly?” Mark Gibbs, NetworkWorld, networkworld.com
