Is It Safe To Use Earphones While The Phone Is Charging?

Is It Safe To Use Earphones While The Phone Is Charging?

 

The question of whether using earphones while charging your phone is safe or not has been asked so many times by users of mobile phones. This is probably because of a number of incidents of electrocution and deaths that have been ascribed to using mobile phones while charging it.

Is It Safe To Use Earphones While The Phone Is Charging?

Popular opinion is that it is quite safe and harmless so long as you have a charger and phone accessories (earphones, in this case) that are in good working conditions and you are far away from water. You getting electrocuted by merely using your earphones while charging is very unlikely. But in the case that it happens, it is usually a case of the bad charger or using the wrong charger for your phone as I have said before.

Chargers for modern phones are designed in a way that AC mains voltage is automatically converted to the amount of voltage required to power the phone (usually -5V). A non-genuine charger may not provide the same amount of voltage as your original phone charger. Some may as well be of a higher voltage than your phone can handle. It is also recommended that you lay off cheap chargers.

Using a bad charger could be very bad for your health and the health of your phone. It does the following:

  • It causes overheating while charging
  • It may harm your device battery which in turn affects the overall performance of your device.
  • It may send the wrong amount of current that may result in an explosion

Personally, I think it is not so good an option for the following reasons:

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A Potential Damage to Your Phone

First, it slows down the charging speed of your phone and ultimately damages the phone, seeing as longer charging time can potentially damage your phone's battery.

Second, it makes it easy for the motherboard of the phone to be affected or even damaged.

So if you want to use your phone for much longer, you should definitely lay off using your phone while it charges.

A Chance of Electrocution

Similarly, it could be dangerous to use your earphone while charging because electricity is easily conducted from the electric socket to the earphones especially if your charging plug is faulty. I remember at one point I was seeing a movie on my tablet with my earphones and I had run out of battery, luckily for me, power was restored almost immediately so I made to plug in my tablet and continue the movie.

Immediately I fixed the earphones in my ear, I felt a piercing shock where the metallic part of the earphone met with my ears and removed it immediately. I later discovered that the earphone was faulty.

A Chance of Electrocution

Also, there have been cases of the explosion of mobile phones breaking the news. For instance, the news (early this year) about  17-year old Brazilian, Luiza Pinheiro, who was said to have been electrocuted when she received a phone call with her earphones in her ears while she was charging her phone.

It was reported that electricity passed through her phone, through the earphones, her ears and then hit her brain almost immediately.  She was found on the floor in her room with her phone melted while still plugged, and her earphones melted in her ears. She was confirmed dead at the hospital. What a painful way to lose one's life.

Risk of Cancer

While mobile phones are an integral part of our lives, we are at great risk as cell phones have the potential to cause certain types of cancer and health problems. Cell phones emit harmful radio waves also known as radiation from their antennas. Hence, the body parts that are closer to the antenna absorb the radiation that is emitted from the phone.

 World Health Organization on May 31st, 2011, reported that the electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, as having potentials to be carcinogenic. According to a news report by Times of India in 2012, five people at a school for the blind in Mumbai were diagnosed with cancer without a family history of such diagnosis.

Risk of Cancer

Also, the school’s caretaker went down with cancer. After six cancer reports were made in three years. It was believed that the 10 cell phone towers surrounding the school were the cause. They then began protesting against the cell phone towers.

An Interphone Study report in 2010 mentioned that excessive users of mobile phones have a doubled risk of developing a brain tumor. At the end of this article, I will mention some measures you can use to reduce the amount of radiation your body absorbs.

A Chance of Explosion

Every mobile phone has the possibility of exploding. When you notice that your battery looks bigger than usual, then its time to change your battery as refusal or delay in changing it might put you at risk of an explosion on your phone. I will share with you some of the deadliest mobile phone explosions recorded.  In 2017, 24-year-old Indian male died after his mobile phone exploded while it was being charged.

Unfortunately for him, he was using the phone while it was charging. The explosion caused him severe burn injuries on his chest and hand. He was confirmed dead by the community health center where he was rushed to, while unconscious.

Similarly, in 2011, although this wasn’t a case of an explosion, it was pretty close. An anonymous Galaxy S2 Skyrocket user posted online about feeling his leg burning up with sounds coming from his phone, (which was in his pocket). He said the phone was already transmitting smoke when he took it out. Once again, it is not advisable to use your phone while it is charging.

A Chance of Explosion

Risk of Brain Damage

Wearing earphones while charging your phone puts you at risk of getting brain damage because of radiation emission and in the case that electricity is conducted. While the quantity of electricity is relatively low, the radiation contained will more or less affect the brain.

On the other hand, using your earphones for calls WHILE it is NOT CHARGING is advisable as it helps reduce the amount of radiation that goes to your head.

The cellphone is fast becoming the new cigarette. Although harmful, many people seem to overlook it until it becomes a problem over time. Cell phone radiation is worse than smoking itself because one can not see it nor smell it. It's killing your health and you don’t even know it. Trust me, it can’t get much worse than that.

However, this doesn’t mean we stop using cell phones. To reduce the amount of radiation your body absorbs, you could get an anti-radiation phone case like the pong case. In the absence of a pong case, however, there are certain precautions we should take while using our mobile phones.

  • Reduce the amount of time you spend on your phone

This is a given. If you want to reduce the side effects of a thing, reduce the amount of time you devote to it. Do not keep your cell phone in your pocket or hold it for long. Also, when not in use, keep your phone away from you. Better still, put it on airplane mode

  • Avoid making long phone calls, if possible, text instead

When you make phone calls, your phone is placed directly against your head. This is dangerous as your head absorbs the radiation emitted by the phone during the call. And if it’s a call that lasts for almost an hour? Much worse. When you text, the phone is in your hands, a distance away from your body hence its preference. You could also switch sides of the head as you make calls

  • Keep cell phone at a distance, at least one foot from your body

Risk of Brain Damage

Most people put their phones in their breast pockets or in the pocket of their trousers. One thing we should know is that the phone emits radiation at all times, and sometimes more than the other(like during a call and when you have a low battery). It is preferable to put your phone in your bag. Also, Do not sleep with your phone under your pillow or close to your head.

  • Prefer speakerphone or use a hands-free

Using speakerphone or a hands-free also creates a distance between your head and the powerhouse of radiation which in this case, is your phone.

  • Low battery

Never use your smartphone when the battery is low, as it’s then the emission of radiation is on the high.

  • During the call connection

The phone emits the most radiation at the initial point of connection when you make a call and lowers when the call is connected. Do not place the phone by your war immediately you dial a number. Instead, wait until the connection is established before doing so. Also, avoid using your phone when the signal is low. At this point, the phone increases its transmitting power while trying to connect to the nearest cell phone tower. As a result, radiation is very high.

Conclusion

For better health and as safety precautionary measures, It is advisable that you avoid using your earphones for anything while it is plugged to electricity, and take to all the precautions (geared towards reducing the absorption of radiation) on this article.

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2 comments


  • Agoro Gan

    Sincerely speaking, i knew very little about the effects of the cellphones to human life. Little did i ever imagined that a cellphone can be this fatal if messed around with without much precaution. This is why they always say that knowledge is power…for the writer of this article, thumps up! Continue with the good work. I would like to let you know that at least you’ve saved a soul this day, if not one, then thousands.
    Salute!


  • Vicky Dhami

    This very very useful and important information for everyone in these days. Because, today’s everyone depends on mobile phones as well as Smartphones that both are lot of harmful for us if we use these devices as very long time. we should avoid and less use of these devices even we should concentrate on that under 19 or under 17 children shouldn’t use these kinds of electrical device because they have gained very easily bad effects of these devices.
    Thanks for giving us to this very important information. God bless you who written this essay for us.


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