Categories: MEX NotesOpinions, ideas and new thinking

MEX Notes: Review concludes evidence "increasingly against" phone cancer risk

  • Review concludes evidence "increasingly against" phone cancer risk – When the possibility of a link between mobile phone usage and cancer first entered consumer consciousness there was, understandably, an impact on user experience. Parents moved to limit device usage among younger children. Frequent users, particularly those reliant on their phones for business, switched to the perceived safety of handsfree kits. Others could be seen holding their phones further from their ears or changed their primary communication method from voice calls to texting. However, in our more recent user observations, I've noticed these concerns have largely abated, most likely due to a slowing in news coverage of the subject. Today's release of a new conclusion reviewing last year's data is being covered as evidence there is no obvious link between mobile phone usage and cancer, but in the short-term it may have the opposite effect, reminding consumers of a possibility they'd largely forgotten. It is also important to recognise the conclusion released today is a review of primary research already presented last year and not the result of new user studies. The reviewers also point out flaws in the methodology used to gather the original research, which relied on users recalling several years of their phone usage patterns from memory.
Marek Pawlowski

Marek Pawlowski is the founder of MEX. Since 1995, he has focused the MEX business on helping digital industries to develop better, more profitable products through improved understanding of user behaviour with mobile devices and wireless networks. MEX is best known for its events, research and consulting, which balance commercial, technical and user insights to define the future of mobile user experience.

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Marek Pawlowski
15 years ago

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