A teacher reports tinnitus and improvement after moving, and raises concerns about screen use, wireless e…

I am an elementary school teacher. I started having nervous system aggravation and tinnitus when cell towers were first being built in the bay area back in 2002. I left the bay area to move to the country where cell towers are not invading my health. My symptoms have decreased. In the past 15 years teachers have been experiencing a huge shift in students abilities to focus in the classroom. I have not met one teacher in the past 5 years who isn't having major issues with students being off task and unable to focus or remember two or even one-step directions. This massive change in students becoming so overly agitated while needing to apply 3 minutes of prolonged focus has become universal in schools. The media influence of students spending excessive hours being exposed to adult violent content on screens is changing how students relate to learning. That alone has caused a huge shift as students completely shut out all education to act disruptive and disrespectful like their heroes on tick-tock. I personally see children coming into school already in fight or flight, because of their overly stimulating busy lifestyle and exposure to wifi radiation. There are questions about the physical safety of the wireless radiation associated with computer use. Building Biology Specialist, Laura Markwardt BBEC, EMRS works to reduce electromagnetic radiation in buildings in order to make environments more healthy for inhabitants. She states that electromagnetic radiation has biological effects on cognition, mood, cardiovascular, and cell function. Laura states that the current FCC guidelines for radiation safety are outdated, arbitrary, and do not take into account the biological effects of the technology (Markwardt, L., 2023). Current legislation demands that the FCC reexamine their safety standards. The Federal Communications Commission was ordered to review their 5G safety standards. This must occur. The existing heat level standards are arbitrary as electromagnetic radiation can penetrate buildings and bodies. Electromatic radiation has more complex side effects than exposure to heat levels. As the technology is new it must be studied and regulated with concern for our children's health, it is a major concern that it is being pushed forward without adequate safety testing. If our regulatory agencies are going to support the use of 5G technology without proper safety data then it stands to reason that parents and teachers should be the ones to oppose children’s use of 5G until we have more information on the actual safety or lack thereof of such novel technologies. Studies of how media influences children’s mental capacities show that increased screen time for children at age 1 year is associated with developmental delays in communication and problem solving at ages 2-4 years old (Jama Network, 2023). The CDC recently changed their Developmental Milestones for children, which moved the developmental milestones to older ages (Real Clear Education, 2022). There is concern that they lowered the milestones and standards for language and that the change could cause developmental delays to go undetected. Could developmental delays be caused by wifi radiation? This must be examined. The best policy is to address developmental delays early with treatment options and learning interventions. Specialists are concerned that with the new lower CDC standards children that are in the 25 to 45 percentile are no longer in the developmental monitoring range causing them to go unnoticed and limiting the possibility to utilize early interventions (Solis-Moreira, J., 2022). Studies find that there is a correlation between heavy media use and moderate amounts of muscular pain and dysfunction. Length of screen time is related to severity of pain. The research suggests that children who are using computers and electronic games may adopt the types of sustained and awkward postures that are associated with musculoskeletal disorders in working adults. It also suggests that the physical demands of prolonged computer use could lead to adverse effects on child development including visual, neurological, and physical changes (NIH, 2002). Studies on the detrimental effects of media use on children’s eyes report that increased time on the computer causes children to develop myopia, which is nearsightedness. The studies reported that high levels of cell phone use is associated with about a 30% higher risk of myopia and when combined with prolonged computer use raised the risk factor of developing myopia to 80% in children (Science Daily, 2021). The infostructure that the cell towers support are causing mental, emotional, and physical harm to our children. This is an openly discussed fact amongst concerned teachers. We see the effects of this technology harming our students daily. We must test this technology against actual human health outcomes not overlays of unrelated data points of heat and human tolerance to heat levels.