Should you worry about smartphone radiation? How to limit your exposure

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Smartphone radiation has been a point of contention for quite a few years now. The damaging effects of radiation is well known, yet smartphones have become an indispensable part of everyone's life.

Researchers suggest that smartphone radiation directly impacts humans while answering calls, but how bad is it?

Your smartphone fires electromagnetic waves whenever it is turned on; that’s how phones send signals. Smartphone radiation is the amount of energy absorbed by your body from the electromagnetic waves your phone discharges.

The amount of radiation a smartphone gives out is measured in Specific Absorption Rate or SAR for short. According to the US Government, any phone with an SAR rating of 1.6 watts per kilogram (1.6 W/kg) and below is safe to use.

However, when it comes to radiation, there’s always more to it than meets the eye.

Ionizing Radiation is powerful enough to dislodge electrons from the atoms in the body, which can damage your body’s internal cells or even directly lead to cancer. Radiation from smartphones comes nowhere close to Ionizing Radiation. So, when you hear smartphone radiation, the last thing you should do is think cancer, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

5G waves are much higher than 4G waves and are something to look out for, but again that’s still nowhere close to Ionizing Radiation. So, despite waves being fired from your smartphone to your skull, they are not considered powerful enough to disrupt your body.

Pretty much every study carried out will tell you that smartphone radiation isn’t really going to cause you any real harm. But the smartphone landscape is evolving at a rapid pace with 5G, the increased number of smartphone users as well as the average time spent on a smartphone. These factors make it almost impossible to create a concrete study.

But there are a few things you can do to reduce your exposure to smartphone radiation. You could –

• Buy physical radiation blockers
• Turn your phone off while you sleep
• Tuck your phone in a backpack while travelling to keep it away from your body
• Use the speakerphone as much as possible while calling