New Zealand School removes “some” WIFI
Te Horo School removes wifi from junior classes to be replaced with wired ethernet. Older students still have wifi available.
Right or wrong? Here’s my opinion. You don’t agree, leave a comment.
Not a big deal at this stage. The junior students are probably less likely to miss the wifi and probably should be outside playing anyway. These two fathers are still campaigning to have all the wifi removed. This may be a bad thing.
For and Against WIFI
I grew up just before wifi, cell phones, tablets and a computer on every desk. We had one TV in the house a few radios, some motorized electric clocks and light bulbs did not contain electronic circuits. With no cell phones vehicles had radio telephones that pumped out 10 or more watts, but only when the button was pressed. There was one or two TV channels, some AM and then FM radio. Far less radio frequency noise floating around than there is now.
The one cathode ray TV we had, probably produced more radiation of all types than most of the devices combined that we have in the house today; and I have a lot of devices.
Maybe todays proliferation of connected devices will have an effect in years to come. I suspect it won’t be so much from radio waves but from lack of exercise and a general dumbing down. Other things will have much greater negative effects; such as the car exhaust you breath every time you go out or commute to school or work and the chemicals in food and other products.
Wifi is a relatively weak radio signal but it is everywhere all the time unless you live away from other people. Wifi, cellular and radio signals are much stronger than the background radio noise that surrounds us. Sleeping with a phone or wifi device under you pillow is probably a pretty stupid thing to do, when there is no clear evidence one way or the other and it’s easy to be safe rather than sorry. Electric blankets and mains powered devices are probably just as risky if not more so.
There are supposed experts for and against wifi, all with their own carefully crafted and indisputable evidence. At the moment it’s not clear. You can lean either way.
It’s pretty obvious that too much radio frequency radiation is bad for you; just put a pie in the microwave for 10 minutes on high to prove that one. But are the low power signals from a wifi device any more dangerous than the radiation we get from the sun every day. I suspect not.
If you are going to remove wifi, you should also distance yourself from all electrical appliances and mains wiring. Tin-foil hats may not be such a stupid idea.
Now this is from my fuzzy memory:
Back in the late 1980s researchers from NZ and the US came to my work place with electric/magnetic field data recorders that some of us were asked to carry, and note in a book where we were throughout the day for a couple of weeks. We were part of a much larger study. Many months passed and a copy of their findings arrived for us to read. There were lots of charts and numbers and I don’t remember all the details. I do recall that they showed that there were serious health risks to living anywhere near high tension power lines.
These types of studies seem to mostly fade from sight. You can imagine the problems that would result if it was “officially” decided that electric fields were a serious health risk. It’s much easier to require bicycle helmets, save a few immediate head injuries and put half the population off cycling. The result may be that fewer people exercise and later on suffer more ill health; overall a much greater cost.
So is removing wifi from schools a good idea?
NO. In my opinion it will have little or no positive health affect. Any possible gain will be greatly offset by other negatives, and the lack of wifi will be inconvenient and hinder education.
Parents would be much better advised to limit access to “devices”, get their kids out away from the TV and video games; the things that waste huge amounts of time, provide no benefit to the vast majority, and in my opinion are doing a great job of creating a retarded next generation.