LAPTOPS, computers, media players, and other electronic devices are manufactured with certain safety standards to shield users from possibly harmful effects. One of these standards used to be that they could not release radio frequencies (RF). Then, along came the Age of Wireless Networks! Suddenly, your computer is designed to emit microwave radiation. Add to this the fact that your laptop is often kept on your lap!
The problem is not from laptops alone. These days, the typical home wireless network includes a desktop PC or two, some laptops, an entertainment system, wireless keyboards and mice, wireless printers, tablet PCs and your BBM device… The Blackberry! So, Yes!  You’re literally swimming in a soup of electromagnetic (EMF) pollution! Yikes!
Even if you don’t keep a wireless network — WiFi (wireless fidelity), a brand licensed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to describe the embedded technology of wireless local area networks (WLAN) based on the IEEE 802.11 specifications) in your home, you are exposed to them in stores, restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, schools… and the list goes on. In fact, cities have been building huge wireless networks to offer free broadband service to their citizens.  Some have called all these frequencies “electro-smog”. Wi-Fi and the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo are registered trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance, the trade organization that tests and certifies equipment compliance with the 802.11x standards.
The use of the term has now broadened to generically describe the wireless interface of mobile computing devices, such as laptops in LANs. Wi-Fi is now increasingly used for more services, including Internet and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone access, gaming, and basic connectivity of consumer electronics such as televisions, DVD players, games, and digital cameras. More standards are in development that will allow Wi-Fi to be used by vehicles in support of an Intelligent Transportation System to increase safety, gather statistics, and enable mobile. Some companies in Guyana are already using GPS technology – a wireless system.
Hooking up all our home or office devices is called a local area network (LAN). Once upon a time, all the devices needed to be hooked together with wires that carried signals to a connecting device, usually a router/switch/hub. Now wireless routers have made wired networks nearly obsolete. Who wants to run all those cables through ceilings and walls when it can be done wirelessly? However, all the accessibility comes with invisible exposures.
With a wireless LAN, each device on the network is built so that it can send a signal to the router and receive signals back. Wireless routers typically have a range of a hundred to several hundred feet. Adding a booster that increases the signal strength can increase the range. As with all radio signals, the closer you are to the transmitter (the router), the stronger the signal. Cellular phones work on the same principle. The difference is that cell-phones work at a different frequency, and put out a stronger signal than wireless LANs. Now, who likes their cell-phone more than their books?
Cell-phones work on the same principle. The difference is that cell-phones discharge roughly nine times the radiation of wireless routers. This leads many to the belief that wireless routers are safe, due to their low power intensity – far below the minimum standards for cell-phones. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Cell-phone standards are set for short-term exposure, and they’re based on the thermal (heating) effects of the microwave radiation they emit. However, there are other non-thermal effects of cell-phones such as memory loss, sleep disruption, slowed motor skills and reaction time, decreased immune function, dizziness, headaches, lowered sperm count, increased blood pressure and pulse, etc.
Also, let’s not forget one major difference: Cell-phone exposure is intermittent (occasional); it affects you the most during actual phone calls, and to a lesser degree when the cell-phone is turned on and worn on the body. Wireless routers, on the other hand, subject you and family members to constant long-term exposure: A constant bath of low-strength RF radiation.
So what can you do about the constant electromagnetism pollution from wireless networks? Evidently, don’t put one in your home. Use a wired system. Okay! I hear you when you say that’s just not an option. You already have your wireless LAN, or you just don’t want to run all those wires. There are a few things you can do:
Turn off you wireless device when not in use.
Avoid having the device on your bed.
Don’t use it while driving.
Avoid spending long hours close to wireless towers, access points, etc.
Use cable when available.
Don’t abuse your cell-phone usage: You BBM & SMS people!
Use less microwave/micro-oven cooked food.
Open your landline phone to Cell access, so you can make calls to cell-phones.
Using wireless is indeed harmful, but not life threatening if you use but don’t abuse, you’re good to go; but hey, don’t take my word for granted! Ultimately, you have to make the choice. Remember the song: “Cell-phone thing mash-up life!”