I recently went to a lunch hosted by Shannon Vaughn, the founder of my absolute favorite bath soak Pursoma. Besides the usual pretty florals and delicious bites, she led a discussion on “digital fog” and how to live healthy to combat urban toxicity. She was inspired to share this with us because funny enough, one of her top sellers is the “digital detox” soak which speaks volumes about what women need right now.

Digital detoxing is something we talk about often (here, here, here, etc.) and I thought it would be fun to re-share the quiz she had us all take gauging our tech addiction. Please take a quick moment to take the quiz yourself (photo above!).

Who else answered yes to a lot of these questions? I definitely did which leads me to believe we could all benefit from Shannon’s recommendations—not only because we’re addicted to our devices but because these devices can be extremely dangerous to our health. Our iPhones emit high levels of radio frequency exposure and believe it or not, our phones actually come with a warning. To see it for yourself, take out your iPhone, go to Settings –> General –> About –> Legal –> rf exposure. There you’ll find a warning about the dangers along with recommendations like using a headset and keeping your phone 5mm away from your body. And with that, here are the recommendations she gave for modern tech wellness in the digital age generation:

GO OLD SCHOOL: GET A CORDED LANDLINE FOR YOUR HOME
Cordless phones emit radiation like cell phones so every home phone should have a cord. Cords are your new BFF.

DISTANCE IS YOUR FRIEND
The amount of radiation absorbed into the human user decreases very rapidly with distance from whatever wireless device you may be using. Decrease your exposure by increasing your distance.

TAKE A BREAK: AIRPLANE MODE ON/ WI-FI OFF/BLUETOOTH OFF

“Airplane mode,” also known as “flight mode,” is a setting on your wireless device that stops the microwave radiation emissions.

PREFER NON-WIRELESS CONNECTIONS

Printer, speakers, and entertainment gear, connect by cord or cable with all wireless features off.

TURN IT OFF WHEN NOT IN USE

Wireless enabled devices are always transmitting radiation even when you are not surfing the internet or using the device to talk or message. The only way to stop these emissions is to set the wireless antennas to OFF.

POWER OFF WIRELESS DEVICES WHEN DRIVING

Power off wireless connectivity in vehicles. Mobile devices distract drivers even if hands-free. Cell phones and streaming tablets and laptops also emit higher power radiation during travel because the metal surroundings create radiation hotspots inside the driver and passenger areas of your vehicle. Going on a road trip and your children, download the movies onto the device so that during the trip wireless access is not necessary.

PRACTICE SAFER PHONE USE
For adults who must use a mobile phone: use speaker phone or a plug-in earpiece, and when you are not using the phone be sure to power off or set the phone on Airplane/Flight mode and the Wi-Fi to OFF and the Bluetooth to OFF. Children should not use mobile phones except in emergency.

For more info on phone safety head over to www.ehtrust.org.

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