ICT and mobile phones

Café Sci - Report by Suresh Sidharth (Student co-coordinator for Makerere College School Café Sci)

Makerere College

Hosted a cafe on:-

ICT and mobile phones

11th August 2009

Speaker: Vincent Kiiza

makerere collegeTechnology & Science are a ‘must know’ thing. Even though the human brain is more flexible than any machine, it’s difficult for a person living in the twenty-first century to do without mobile phones and computers.

Today’s mobile phones are more than just phones: they can send multimedia information {video clips, photos, music} to almost any corner of the world, store personal information, keep a schedule and more. A phone is a ‘pocket partner’ – we feel lost and disconnected when we lose our phone. Computers began as machines for calculations but are used for much more now: the Internet, video-conferencing, email and more.

ICT  has disadvantages: emissions of electromagnetic waves harmful to human health,  continuous use of computers can cause body stiffness due to lack of body movement {physical exercise} and psychologically, using a computer reduces a person’s ability to interact with colleagues socially {makes one self contained}.

We asked:

  • Tell us more about the telephone infrastructure.
  • How do the packets of the wireless device work?
  • Do mobile phone masts affect our health?
  • How does the mobile phone receive its signal?
  • How do mobile phone signals interact with other electromagnetic signals? What is the danger if that happens?
  • Does the way phones get signals affect our health?