Despite their usefulness, cellular phones get a lot of negative press. Excessive and improper cell phone use accounts for hundreds of thousands of injuries and deaths around the world every year. A recent study showed that a coordinated 20 year-old on a cell phone has the same reaction time as that of a 70 year old. This waned concentration can lead to many dangerous situations.  And while most of us have made it this far without the need of protective shoulder pads or helmets, the risk of cell phone injury still exists.  The following is a list of cell phone injuries, ordered in their likeliness to occur, from most to least.

1.  Bumping Into Inanimate Objects

Injuries from simply walking into inanimate objects are steadily rising along with the rise in cell phone use. It’s not uncommon for people to admit themselves in hospitals with lacerations and bruising as a result of walking blindly into signs, lamp posts etc.

2. Falling

While inanimate object bumping accounts for a large chunk of cell phone related injuries, falls also contribute their share. Cell phone users falling down stairs is not only very dangerous, but damn embarrassing too. The most recently publicized incident of this was when Valerie Jarrett, one of President Barrack Obama’s political aids, stepped off a curb while using her Blackberry and severely twisted her ankle.

3. Walking into traffic

There’s been a sharp rise in incidents of people walking into traffic, as oblivious texters step off of sidewalks and cross streets during red lights.

4. Road Accidents

At this point everyone knows driving and talking on a cell phone is bad. Across North America, most states and provinces have made talking on a cell phone against the law. The result of transgression?  A hefty fine.

5. Battery Explosion

Exploding batteries are probably the least publicized of all cell phone related injuries but there are quite a few instances of serious injury and one recorded death.

6. Carpal Tunnel

Teens have been carted to hospitals in the thousands with hand and wrist problems as a result of excessive text messaging or SMS. Blackberry users are some of the biggest abusers of cell phones which has lead to an increase in cell phone-related Carpel Tunnel syndrome.

7. Cell phone up your bottom

In the real world, this is probably the most unlikely way to injure oneself with a cell phone…But in the prison world, this is actually a fairly common occurrence. Prisoners are often caught with various items in their… umm ‘puckered starfish.’ Cell phones are banned in prison and inmates are forced to… uhhh force cell phones in places where only boarder guards dare to probe.

8. Swallowing a cell phone

Technically, the only incident on record wasn’t of someone swallowing a cell phone of their own accord, but in fact having one shoved down her throat by her angry boyfriend (assuming now ex-boyfriend).

9. Cancer

The media has been talking about cell phones causing brain cancer ever since their inception. In terms of likeliness of occurrence however, this ranks as the lowest.  There is still no solid evidence to support this claim.

1. JiWire WiFi Finder is very useful in finding a fast Internet connection because even though the Internet can be accessed through AT&T’s Edge Internet service, it can sometimes run slow due to the 2.5G limited speeds. Jiwire finds the fastest Internet connection for optimal phone performance. The On-the-go option to the application helps users find popular wireless areas worldwide by searching locations or zip codes to display the closest networks.

2. Glide Mobile is an online office program that enables users to produce, edit, and send many different documents such as websites, pictures, word processing documents, calendars, and lists of contacts. The documents can then be changed into PDF, Word, or RTF files on a computer. Glide Mobile also enables users to sync online contents to Mac computers.

3. Google Mobile has a great set of tools for the iPhone. It has easy accessibility to most of Google’s Internet tools such as Google Docs, Gmail, Google Notebook, Google Reader, Google Calendar, and Picassa.

4. iPhlicker combines Flickr and the iPhone to allows users easy access to recently uploaded photos, featured photos, and even entire photo collections. It also allows users to search. iPhlicker provides access to the actual Flickr website to search, select favorites, and make comments.

5. Gas.app allows iPhone owners to save money on gas car by searching locations or zip codes for gas stations with the lowest prices in any area of the US.

6. goMovies allows users to browse all of current movies at local theatres. The results can be browsed by movie titles or theatre location. Users can also buy the tickets and access movie trailers and IMDb information.

7. Many of iPhone applications are dedicated to social networking websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Multiply. There are also new social networking websites that are intended for iPhone users such as iPling and iRovr.

8. Mundu is an instant messenger that is built into the iPhone that enables users to use MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Google’s GTalk all at once.

9. Listingly is an online application that manages lists such as grocery lists, to-do lists, and wish lists. The application also categorizes items into groups.

10. uPhoneHome allows iPhone users to find and organize their iPhone applications by providing links and icons to them. The user can sort by category or date and create favorites.

Many of iPhone applications are dedicated to social networking websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Multiply. There are also new social networking websites that are intended for iPhone users such as iPling and iRovr.

Even though many people are very dependent of their cell phones, most people are aware that cell phone users are required to turn off their phones during most flights and in hospitals. Under the circumstances, the requests are not unreasonable and ensure the safety of the people in the hospitals and planes. When cell phones are used, there are electromagnetic waves that travel through the air. The effect these waves have is similar to talking on a cordless land line telephone and crossing paths with another conversation from other telephone lines or CB radios. All equipment that transmits can cross signals with each other and cause problems. Even if a cell phone is not being used, it continuously sends and receives signals to a local cellular tower as long as the power is on.

Hospitals have a vast amount of electronic equipment that monitor patients’ conditions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and medication. The equipment is often wireless and can send and receive signals from the patient’s hospital room to a central area outside of the room such as a nurse’s station. The nurses are notified immediately if something goes wrong so they can treat the patient effectively. It does not happen often but sometimes if electromagnetic waves try to travel through the equipment they can cause the equipment to malfunction or stop working. This can be a matter of life and death for a patient if the machines do not work and the nurses are unaware of an emergency. Cell phone interference can also result in the disruption of communication between hospitals and ambulances or helicopters. In hospitals, you are not required to turn off your cell phone in all circumstances. Cell phone use may be permitted in areas where the electromagnetic waves would not interfere with the functioning of important medical devices.

The equipment used for aircraft is similar to that used in hospitals. Airplanes use many radios, computers, and radar systems to aid in flying. The radios allow constant communication with the control towers and other aircraft. The radar systems allow pilots to view obstacles and other airplanes. And the computers help monitor the operation of the airplane itself. The electromagnetic waves sent and received by cellular phones can disrupt the function of these communication systems, leading to detrimental consequences.

So, next time you enter a hospital or board an airplane realize that turning off your cell phone is a public safety measure and you can live without your cell phone for a short period of time.

Congressman Peter King, Republican of New York recently proposed a bill called the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act to prevent predators from taking obscene pictures of children and teens in locker rooms, dressing rooms, and other public places. The solution is that one year after the bill is passed all camera cellular phones that are made in the US must release an audible sound within reasonable distance from the phone to signal a picture being taken. The bill would also not allow phone manufacturers to create a disable option.

As with any new proposal there are many pros and cons. If it passes it could lead to future bills concerning video, streetlights, ATMs, and other cameras that are present in public areas. However, this act is also very difficult to be effective because the majority of the popular phone brands are not made in the United States, such as Samsung, Nokia, and LG. The bill would also be very expensive for cell phone manufacturers and consumers.

Just because a camera makes a sound does not mean that the predators are going to stop snapping photos. The predator can still point, shoot, and run off before anyone even realizes what happened.

If the bill is passed, it will be very annoying for consumers who genuinely want to take legal photos without making a sound. For example, new parents who want to take pictures of their sleeping infant without disturbing the baby. Or an animal lover who wants to get up close to a wild animal and snap a shot before it runs away. It also affects visitors of quiet public attractions such as museums or art galleries. The noise from the camera phones could disrupt other viewers. Imagine if many people were taking pictures at once and a loud rumble of camera clicks were going off, it could ruin many experiences the public enjoys.