These days, our smartphones are pretty much glued to our hands 24/7. The average American has a cell phone screen time of 3 hours and 30 minutes per day.
There are a lot of reasons why staring at your phone all day is unhealthy, But according to TikToker Renee (@holistichealingla), your smartphone might be doing you more damage when you are asleep.
“I wish I didn’t have to make this video, but I have been non-stop hearing about people getting cancer that should not be getting cancer, people who are in their teens, their 20s, their 30s, getting brain cancer,” she began. “And I want to speak about the importance of keeping your cell phone away from your head and putting it on airplane mode when you go to sleep,”
She went on to claim that smartphones, especially when plugged in, emit “tons of radiation.”
“Radiation causes your cells to mutate, and it increases your risk of cancer,” she added.
“Now, with social media and TikTok and all of this, people go to sleep holding their phones an inch away from their face, watching videos for hours on end, and then falling asleep with it right next to their head. Please, please, please, be mindful of this. Prevention is the best chance you have.”
Can smartphones give you cancer?
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), it is true that smartphones emit radiation.
However, the organization explains on its website that that the type of radiation cell phones emit is too weak to actually damage people’s DNA. The type of radiation that gives people cancer is ionizing radiation, more commonly found in x-rays.
The NCI also clarified that while the human body can absorb radiation from cell phones, the only result of this will be a slight warmth to the area where the phone is being held. But in spite of that, this heat isn’t powerful enough to raise body temperature.
Viewers were freaked out
The video, in turn, has gone massively viral, amassing 1.6 million views.
Unsurprisingly, viewers were terrified by what Renee said. “New fear unlocked,” one commenter wrote, labelling a spiking graph as their “anxiety.”
“Omg I’ve been sleeping with my phone next to my pillow for the last 2 years,” another revealed. “Lowkey scared rn.”
A third wrote, “I’m scared bc now I know to do that but I’ve been doing that for so long i hope fixing it from now saves me.”
Similarly, a fourth said they were “freaking out rn” because they’ve been sleeping by their phone for 10 years.
@holistichealingla Prevention is the best medicine. Please put your phone on airplane mode when you sleep! #iphone #radiation #health #cancer #braincancer #healing #holistic ♬ original sound – Reneé | Functional Health
Renee didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment.
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