Week 6 --Tian Lan

Tian Lan

Section A01

Week 6

In the article “Is WIFI in school safe”, the author talks about the potential health damage that caused by the electromagnetic field surrounded us every day. Unlike other physical health threat, such as unclean water or contagious diseases, electromagnetic filed is much more invisible and intangible. As the rapid development of modern technology, electronic devices have become an essential part of our daily life. As a result, we are inevitably expose to the electromagnetic filed that generate by these devices. The article provides 10 tips for the school to reduce the exposure of electromagnetic field for student. After reading these advices, I don’t think they are practical solution for this problem, especially in university with large population of students. The main idea of these advices is to replace the WIFI with hardwire cables, which might be a good solution at home but not at schools. Since there are so many students in school, it will be very expensive to install external cable outlet around every corner of the school, and using hardwire cable also makes the internet connection process more complicated and time consuming. [1]

Wireless internet technology is one of the greatest inventions in the 21^st century, which makes our life more convenient and makes the internet more accessible for everyone. Although it has some potential threats to human health, we should not abandon this great technology otherwise we are moving backwards and discourage technology development and innovation. Instead, we should continue to optimize our technology to make it less harmful to human body. This approach will not only advance our technology but also will help to solve the problems. However, I do agree the proactive approaches that can reduce EMF exposure that mentioned in the article, for example, we should eat more vegetables and turn off the electronic device before going to bed. A more general approach is to reduce the usage of cellphone and laptops and spend more time to play sports and outside activities, which not only reduce the EMF exposure but also makes our body stronger. [1]

Question:

How does the EMF affect human health in molecular level? How can we further optimize our technology to minimize the EMF intensity around school? In particular, how do we make WIFI generate less electromagnetic radiation ?  

 [2]

Reference:

1.     Spero, B. (n.d.). Is Wi-Fi in Schools Safe? [PDF]. Boston Parents Paper.

2.     The 5 Worst Sources of EMF Exposure in Your Home. (2015, April 25). Retrieved October 28, 2017, from http://ifit.zone/the-5-worst-sources-of-emf-exposure-in-your-home/