Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Where is your phone? A survey of
phone location and perceived risk:
A pilot study
Mary Redmayne
Centre for Population Health Research on Electromagnetic Energy (PRESEE),
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Background
 Mobile phones emit electromagnetic radiation
 All mobile phones emit a regular ‘handshake’
transmission
 Apps make frequent transmissions while phone is in
stand-by
 This raises the question of possible health effects
related to carrying a phone in stand-by against the
body
 Manufacturers advise against carrying or using
against the body
Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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Aims and purposes
 1. To describe where cell phones are carried by
adolescents and young women (age 12-40) when being
used for a variety of purposes.
 2. To enable power calculation for future women’s health
studies.
 3. To ascertain perception of health risks associated with
cell phones and other transmitting devices
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Methods
 The survey is by questionnaire and answered online using Survey
Monkey®.
 Time 10-15 minutes depending on responses
 Female adolescents and young women aged 12 to 40 are eligible to
participate
 Aim for broad socio-economic backgrounds and walks of life
 Study being undertaken in Australia and Germany (P. Wiedemann,
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Berlin, Germany)
Just Australian interim results presented here
 A wide variety of places were approached and asked to notify their
students/employees/members about the survey
 Posters and notices for emailing were provided
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Interim results (data collection not finished)
 At the time of this preliminary analysis, there were 183 participants
 Age range 13-40
Split into 5 equal sized
categories for
preliminary analysis
13-21
22-26
27-30
31-36
37-30
Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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For how long have you carried a mobile phone
for with you at least half the time?
‘’
Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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Nos.
Location of phone when
outside or in a vehicle and
not using it. Tick all that
apply over the last 7 days
Location of phone for
online passive use eg
podcast, GPS. Tick all that
Nos. apply. over the last 7 days
80
140
Note different scales
A = In your hand
B = In a pocket, at or below
waist level
70
120
KEY Locations of phone
60
100
C = In a bag, or elsewhere
not in your clothing
50
80
40
60
30
40
D = In a breast pocket or
hanging against your chest
20
20
10
0
0
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
E = In your bra or fitted
sports top
F = Against your upper arm
G = Tucked into your hijab
Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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In what mode and how far from your head is your phone at
night?
Stand-by?
Flight mode?
Turned off?
Why does this matter?
Because smartphones frequently
transmit while in stand-by
 10% have the phone turned off at
night
More than 80% keep the phone in stand-by
overnight. Of these:
 13% (of N=166) have the phone in stand-by
and within 20 cms of their head
 57% (of N=166) have the phone in stand-by
and between 20 and 50 cms of their head
Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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Perceived health risks
 We asked about a wide range of health
conditions from headaches to cancer
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Do you consider that exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation
causes or worsens human health problems with respect to: Definite’ or
‘Probable’
risk
Symptom
Yes and
Sleep
Cancer
Headaches, dizziness
Thinking, memory, concentration
Emotional/Mental health (anxiety, mood, depression)
Fertility
Vision
Nervous system (tingling, numbness)
Blood pressure
Motor (aches, pain, weakness)
Immune system
Heart function
Digestion
Probably
65%
59%
56%
53.5%
48.5%
39%
35%
33%
23.5%
23%
23%
21.5%
15%
NB Excludes those who definitely thought there were no health implications and who weren’t asked the
risk perception questions
Where is your phone? A pilot study M Redmayne PRESEE event 2015
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Thank you
mary.redmayne@monash.edu
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to:
• NHMRC who funded the Centre for Population Health
Research on Electromagnetic Energy (PRESEE)
• All participants
Photo in bra credit: http://www.news4jax.com/image/view//20951588/highRes/2/-/maxh/360/maxw/640/-/100k0udz/-/Cell-phone-breastpix.jpg
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