Ever since Apple decided to ditch the 3.5mm jack, this question has become more and more popular: are Bluetooth headphones safe? And moreover:
Is Bluetooth dangerous?
With tech advancing so quickly, you are naturally skeptical of Bluetooth since we all know Bluetooth emits radiation. Correct?
But we don’t have to be! Bluetooth is safe, right?!
If you do your research, you will find lots of “science” that is not backed up by much information. And you can even find sales pages for protection and protectors against the “danger of Bluetooth.”
If you wouldn’t delve deeper, it would be normal to be horrified of the information. It will make you question your music habits and whether you don’t already have cancer.
The online narrative is that scary. Conspiracy theorists will tell you that the government doesn’t want to make the problem public and that it’s in cahoots with the World Health Organization.
Honestly now!
The more you read. the easier it is to realize it’s very easy to fool people.
What We Did
In an attempt to dig deeper into the Bluetooth dark hole of misinformation, we asked a few questions:
- Does Bluetooth harm the body or cause cancer?
- Does Bluetooth even have that much power?
- Does science support the countless claims that Bluetooth is harmless or harmful?
1. Does Bluetooth harm the body or cause cancer?
The answer lies in finding out whether Bluetooth has the ability to affect cells and DNA. The short answer is:
No!
Cancer can’t be caused by Bluetooth given that it’s not a radio frequency emitting electromagnetic radiation (or RF EMR).
‼️ The bonds of molecules have to break in a cell in order for radiation to cause cancer. Ionizing radiation damages the DNA by changing up everything about the cell. This ranges from knocking electrons out of atoms and molecules to breaking the DNA’s bonds. In this manner, if enough radiation is given off, then damage can occur and could even cause a tumor to grow on the cell.
There is nothing to prove that Bluetooth can cause cancer. Furthermore, there is no link between cancer and Bluetooth OR cellphones. When organizations such as the World Health Organization mentions cancer in the same article as Bluetooth, multiple media outlets tend to lose their minds with titles blown out of proportion. Welcome to the era of fake news!
2. Does Bluetooth even have that much power?
Again, the answer is simple:
No!
Bluetooth simply does not have the power to cause such damage to our bodies.
Think of a room filled with Bluetooth devices. If they were all turned on and you entered that room, would you feel any different or even “be cooked”?
The answer would be no!
Some Google suggestions compare microwave ovens and their radio frequencies to those of a Bluetooth device. But the power difference is way too great.
Still, it takes even more power from the microwave to do any tissue damage. In order to get the power of a microwave from a Bluetooth device:
- You would need at least 12,000 Bluetooth emitters that are at full power.
- You would then need to smash the Bluetooth devices on to your skin in order to match the power of a microwave.
https://giphy.com/gifs/power-highqualitygifs-unlimited-hokMyu1PAKfJK
If you have not gotten rid of your microwave, then there is no need to jump on the bandwagon against any Bluetooth device. Being close to a microwave is harmless just as being close to Bluetooth headsets is harmless.
3. Does science support the countless claims that Bluetooth is harmless or harmful?
There is no proof to the claim that Bluetooth is harmful. No Bluetooth device poses ANY* health risk.
Neither does any type of Bluetooth headphones.
*(well except other health risks not related to Bluetooth and specific to the products themselves – we never know what people will invent)
Wireless headphones radiation simply does not exist. The theory currently is that cellphones can stimulate cells, but the findings contradict each other greatly.
When you find this type of lack of information that simply means that there is nothing to be found.
The reason why you may not find a lot of information on the Internet about debunking these conspiracies is that scientists think that it so obvious that it isn’t true.
Scientists are naturally busy working on real research that leads to real science, not wasting time and money on non-issues.
So to Sum Up…
So all in all, we can just enjoy your Bluetooth headsets in peace. Wireless headphones are some of the devices that will push us into a new aesthetic, closer to that sci-fi look.
Only conspiracy theorists and people that are generally not very fun will tell you that Bluetooth is harmful. On the other hand, if you don’t keep your phone secure, it might come to harm via Bluetooth, so be careful with that!
It simply isn’t, and if there’s anyone that gets on your nerves, here’s all the research we used for this short article:
Sources
- https://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/fs304/en/
- https://www.rfsafe.com/bluetooth-radiation-dangerous-cell-phone-radiation/
- http://www.di-srv.unisa.it/~vitsca/RC-0809I/pdf00004.pdf
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/0471219282.eot264
- https://www.soundguys.com/is-bluetooth-dangerous-18735/
- https://www.consumerreports.org/radiation/do-i-need-to-worry-about-radiation-from-wifi-and-bluetooth-devices/
- https://www.defendershield.com/are-wireless-bluetooth-headphones-safe
Once you’re done with your research, you might want to see our selection of the best Bluetooth headphones this year:
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