OUMH2203 ENGLISH FOR WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION MAY 2013

The invention of mobiles phones is a great achievement and plays an important part in our daily life. Its many aspects are beneficial but some are negative effects as well. Its development brought convenience and advantages to the world. Communication between people to people becomes so easier and very fast. We put through people from any place on bus, in street or in a meeting to send messages for less than the price of call. Internet can be access through it and also used to make photos and videos. At the same time, parents can control their children and it is essential for emergencies. Business deals can be done on a single call through cell phone outside of office in park or in any shopping centre. This invention gets closer the world to a single point. Internet is also available at mobile phone.Mobile phone become an important thing on our daily life. Mobile phones play an important role in our daily life. Almost everyone own a mobile phone nowadays they think mobile phones is an essential tool. There must be reasons why we have become to dependent on mobile phones. Most people would not think twice about saying that a mobile phone is an integral part or our modern day life. There are many others who cannot imagine their life without the gadgets. Be it a teenager for whom the only use of the mobile phone is recreation, which he can jolly well, get from umpteen number of device or be it a businessman for whom it is an absolute essential for his work, life without a mobile phone has become handicapped. By using mobile phones, are we damaging our long-term health just to stay in contact or worse simply just for a good image? You be the judge?

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As the Manager of Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, I am to write an analysis the advantages and disadvantages of using mobile phones. The mobile phone is the most dynamic device in the market. It is changing faster than the computer. The new generation nowadays allows the user to connect to the Internet, sent e-mail, click photographs, and listen to music and even record full-length videos. The e-mail feature, a tremendous advancement in technology, allows businesspeople to contact their office at anytime day or night. This feature is also a cheap way of staying in touch not just locally or regionally but globally, it is a major connectivity tool for any working man. Sending e-mail is not nearly as expensive as the conventional methods of contact, therefore has the potential to reduce costs considerably for the company. The powerful feature about e-mail is that it can be sent anytime, not just within office hours, and time differences between countries are no longer a consideration. At present, mobile phones are popular for everyone in our society. Mobile phones are common facilities for all ages. They can be used to communication between two persons or more than two persons everywhere and every time. So, mobile phones are important equipment for people nowadays. The most important advantage of using mobile phones is that mobile phones are convenient communication tools that we can use to communicate with our friends. Besides, you can carry mobile phones everywhere by keeping them in shopping bags and school bags because mobile phones are small and easy to carry. Furthermore, mobile phones have a lot of good functions such as cameras, music players, radio, the Internet, games, dictionaries, sound recorders, video players, calculators, map, bluetooth devices, notes, calendars and etc.

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For most mobile phone users the main utility of the mobile phone is ability to contact friends of family in the event of an emergency. Most parents provide phones to their children so that they can know where their children are whenever they need to and it totally reduces the worrying. Most women who travel alone feel more secure knowing that in an emergency or breakdown they can summon help without leaving the safety of their car therefore, the mobile reduces the chances of being run over or worse raped. But could having your mobile phones with you be a silent killer? With the increase in use of mobile phones and the introduction of new technology which is making not only the cost of the hand set cheap but also the usage of the phones results in many more connections since more and more people are now able to afford it. However, this does have its disadvantage, the prime being that the networks can become overloaded and make it extremely difficult to connect to the network. The consequences of this could be disastrous, mobile phone owners are lead to believe that they can contact help in the event of an emergency when, in effect the crowed network may make this impossible. So there develops a false sense of security. Parents are now increasingly buying mobile phones to stay in contact with their children. Are they, by doing this, endangering their own health and more importantly the health of their children? Are they not just providing them a sense of security but a device, which is slowly harming their brain? Many studies have been commissioned to assess the health risks associated with ownership and use of a mobile phone. The results are for all to see. Mobile phone emits a type of electromagnetic radiation called radio-frequency radiation (RFR). The possible health risks of RFR can be characterized in two ways: thermal and non-thermal. Thermal effects occur when enough RFR, at certain frequencies, is absorbed to be converted to heat, increasing tissues temperature.

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The balance of evidence does not suggest mobile phones technologies put the health of the general population at risk. It was not however denied to students to use mobile phones in cases of essential calls. There was an all-party commission to probe the matter and even they could not come up with firm evidence that mobile phones pose any threat to health. Therefore now the only judge to decide on the use of mobile phones is the user of the mobile phone or in some cases the parents of the user, but please to keep in mind that it is better to be safe than sorry. Scientists have come to some agreement when they say that the mobile phone transmitter is a great danger to public health. The planning laws at present allows transmitters to be erected anywhere in the country as long as they are under the height of fifteen meters. Since it is still not agreed whole-heartedly whether the mobile phones do cause damage to health, there is still a lingering doubt in the mind of the general public and even the scientists researching the case, so until the evidence is conclusive the government should enforce more strictly the regulations, which control the location of mobile phone transmitters. One way in which this could be done is to ban or severely restrict the erecting of these transmitters in built up or residential areas. The problem that will be circumvented in such cases is that even some people who do not use the mobile phone are anyways exposed to the dangers of it due to the huge transmitters erected near their homes. With the experts unsure at present whether transmitting masts pose a health risk, especially to children under the age of fifteen, the ease at which telephone companies can site and erect these masts is, at best, irresponsible. There are insistence of mobile phone transmitters being erected outside Primary schools. The health and environment minister once said, If we introduced planning barriers which were too high this could work against the interests of the economy. Is the government

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endangering the health of the public just to accommodate the extremely large and powerful multinational phone companies? The mobile phone industry has pulled the rug over findings that query the safety of the worlds 2000 million handsets. What gives the above argument weight is that this research was commissioned and payed for the industry. The research costs were fifteen million pounds. For any reason if it is found that the mobile phones are dangerous in numerous ways will their use be stopped? One classic example, which could provide the answer for the above question, is the smoking of cigarettes. For many years it has been widely acknowledged that smoking causes cancer, still many people continue to ignore Government health warnings and continue to smoke and many more people choose to start smoking each week. With the mobile phone becoming ever more affordable will the people who use it stop because it is found to shorten their life expectancy or will the same happen as happened with cigarette warnings? Many people defiantly will stop using their mobile phones. Others, particularly those who depend on their mobile phone to communicate with friends or businesspeople, will not stop? One of the ways that the Government have attempted to discourage people from smoking is to ban all cigarette advertising. This strategy could be applied to mobile phones in a way that prohibits mobile phone companies from targeting the younger generation. The Government could also insist that mobile phone manufacturers include health-warning leaflets with each phone sold. There is substantial research backing the claim that the radio signals emitted by mobile communication equipment present no health risk. Periodic review by numerous government agencies, international health organizations and scientific bodies support the observation that the radio signals from mobile phones and other portable communications devices pose no health risk. The scientific consensus drawn from the weight of evidence

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accumulated over many years is clear. There is no evidence that he radio signals generated by mobile phones, transmitting masts or other portable communications devices pose a health hazard. The above evidence in my opinion provides a sound basis for concluding that mobile phones are safe. In contrast, mobile phones have many disadvantages. The first one is they have effects to our health. Mobile phones have microwave radition, so they will be dangerous for our ears and brain. Children that grow up in our new mobile phone world are exposed to microwave radiation from the moment they are in the womb. However, the effects of microwave radiation on infants is unknown to most parents. The Stewart Report is a report commissioned by the British Parliament in response to fears that mobile phone use could be linked to memory loss, and even Alzheimers Disease. It explains the effect of mobile phone radiation on children. Anybody who gets a signal on their mobile phone in their home, is in the vicinity of a mobile phone base tower. How close are you to the base station? The answer to this question will likely impact your familys health, especially if you live within 400 meters of a base station. A German study published in 2004 titled The Influence of Being Physically Near to a Cell Phone Transmission Mast on the Incidence of Cancer, showed a 3 times higher risk of developing cancer for people who lived within 400 meters of a cell phone tower for a period of five years.A similar Spanish study found that people living in the close vicinity of a cell phone tower had the following health problems: 1. Depression increased by up to 64-fold. 2. Fatigue increased by up to 37-fold.

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3. Appetite Loss increased by up to 25-fold.

In conclusion, the radiation caused by mobile phones and mobile phone masts has a negative effect on the health of children. Most studies have only looked into the (relatively) short term effects. The long term effects of continuous exposure to microwave radiation, starting from the earliest beginning are known. In addition, using a lot mobile phone can harm your brain, particularly teenager and children who are under 16 years old. If you use mobile phones too much, you will get bad effects like dizzy, blood-brain barrier, or ears problems. In addition, when you use mobile phones while you are driving, you will get an accident. It is essential not good for you and others. Moreover, radiations emitted from the phone are dead harmful for the eardrum, has proved by many scientist. Then, electro-magnetic wave from cell phone can cause more diseases like epilepsy, childless male and especially brain cancer. A worrying fact is that a large number of people using cell phone are not considering the bad effects from cell phones. They use it every day and every time. The right way using cell phone and its effects are needed to popularize to people. Then, from the previous research, the results suggest that the use of cell phones by men is associated with a decrease in semen quality also. The decrease in sperm count, motility, viability, and normal morphology is related to the duration of exposure to cell phones. With regard to the potential damaging effects on the male reproductive system, several studies have been carried out on animals. These studies revealed a wide spectrum of possible effects that range from an insignificant effect to variable degrees of testicular damage and reduction of different sperm parameters.

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The most widely spread disadvantage though the most unseen, is the addictive relation developed between a mobile telephone and its user. Psychiatrists and sociologists believe that mobile phone addiction is becoming one of the biggest non-drug addictions in the 21st century. Along with the age drop of the mobile phone users and the ease of prepaid method provide by the system operators, most teenagers now own their own mobile phone and network service. Teenagers are engaged on their mobile phones all the time, no matter on phone calls, using SMS text messages, personalizing the mobile phones with ringtones and pictures etc. Besides, they also affect our children. Children may use mobile phones in wrong ways. This may cause them to leave school. Moreover, using mobile phones while driving is one of the main causes of road accidents. Finally, using mobile phones affects our society. Living together in a society, we must respect others. So, using mobile phones in public such as in classrooms, in cinemas, on buses is not good and proper. Another type of problematic social behavior resulted from the emergence of mobile phones is losing good habits, such as punctuality. When we couldnt keep in touch so easily, if we had a date with someone, we tried our best to arrive on time. But now, because of the mobile phone, we are not afraid of being late any more. If we are likely to be late, we will call him and say I am sorry I will be late, it seems that I am on time if I give him a late call. Repeating it makes us develop an irresponsible behavior.The increased risk that mobile phones pose to driving is clear-cut and widely acknowledged and commonly called a Fatal distraction. It may seem harsh but unfortunately it is the plain truth. This increased risk is due to the inability of the human brain to fully focus on driving while, and shortly after, talking on a cell phone leading into an accident. Matter of factly it is so dangerous that in many countries has been legally penalized.

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To conclude, it is inarguable that mobile phones are not perfect so far, but they can produce more valuable and beneficial influences. For the recommendation, although current evidence suggests mobile phones are safe to use, there are some recommendations to help lower any potential long-term risks. Using a phone while driving is currently the greatest risk to your health. You can lower exposure to radio waves in the following ways as well as only make short calls on your mobile phone, and do not use it more than necessary. Second, children should only use mobile phones for essential purposes and keep all calls short and always keep your mobile phone away from your body when it is in standby mode. Then, only use your phone when the reception is strong: this is often indicated by bars of energy on your phone screen. Weak reception causes the phone to use more energy to communicate with the base station.In addition recommendation, use a mobile phone that has an external antenna. This keeps the radio waves as far away from your head as possible. Plus, there are a few recommendation using mobile phones in cars while driving.First, keep your mobile phone switched off when you are driving. You can use voicemail, a message service or call diversion to pick up your messages at the end of your journey. If you need to use your mobile phone, stop in a safe place. Do not stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway unless it is an emergency. Then, avoid using a hands-free device. These can be just as distracting as using the phone itself. Think, evaluate and be responsible enough on what we are using for. As shown, there are many advantages to having a cell-phone. The disadvantages are also staggering. Overall, the decision to have one or not is yours, the consumers. Dependant on your needs, you may want a cell-phone. Many risks may ensue. In fact, maybe the reason

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you got into a car crash is because you were on a cell-phone Thus, I am convinced that their disadvantages outweigh the advantages. ____________________________________________________________________

2877 words

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References Children, Cancer & the Environment the Most Common Forms of Childhood Cancer. Natural Resources Defence Council (NDRC). - See more at: http://www.controlyourimpact.com/2008/03/disadvantages-of-mobile-phones-the-effect-onchildren/#sthash.oZ9CpUur.dpuf Hyland, G J. How Exposure to Mobile Phone Base-Station Signals Can Adversely Affect Humans. (2005). http://www.controlyourimpact.com/2008/03/disadvantages-of-mobile-phones-the-effect-onchildren/#sthash.oZ9CpUur.dpuf http://www.controlyourimpact.com/2008/03/disadvantages-of-mobile-phones-theeffect-on-children/#sthash.oZ9CpUur.dpuf Orbicom (2007). Emerging development opportunities: The making of information societies and ICT markets. Ottawa: IDRC. United Nations. (2008). The Millennium Development Goals Report. New York: UNDESA. Retrieved from http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2008/MDG_Report_2008_ En.pdf#page=14 Wagner, D., & Kozma, R. (2005). New technologies for literacy and adult education: A global perspective. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.

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