I am a self-confessed Apple Fan Boy and usually purchase all of the new Apple Tech as soon as it’s released.  My wife bought me a set of Apple Ear Pods last Christmas and I’ve been loving them until last month.

I recently purchased an Electrosmog meter which enables me to measure the Electromagnetic Frequencies (EMFs) from devices throughout my house.  The debate is raging over EMFs and whether or not they impact your health in the long term.  The science is inconclusive on both sides of the argument and we are therefore the first generation of guinea pigs. 

Who is right? Who knows, but science has confirmed that EMFs do not cook your cells as people speculated in the 1990s but what they do is activate something called voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) which are in the outer membrane of your cells. When activated, they allow calcium into your cells, increasing both nitric oxide and superoxide which is a potent oxidant stressor [1].

I don’t want to make this article all about EMFs and whether or not they are causing a negative biological impact.  My own personal point of view is that I love technology; my house is filled with Internet of Things devices. Given that the science is inconclusive, I’ve decided to make a few small changes to reduce the impact.

First of all, I went around the house and measured a few devices.

My office with all devices turned off reads 0.0005 mW/m2.

The reading below are in mW/m2

Apple Airport Extreme WIFI Router
Next to device: 10 – 43 dropping to 0.06 – 1.10 when 1 metre away

Apple Mac Mini (wifi-on)
Next to device: 5 – 5 dropping to 0.10 – 0.30 when 1 metre away

Dell Laptop (wifi-on)
Next to device: 6 – 10 dropping to 0.01 – 0.02 when 1 metre away

Panasonic DEC Cordless Phone
Next to device: 1827 dropping to 7.00 – 8.00 when 1 metre away

Microwave Oven
Next to device: 140 – 1800 dropping to 240.00 – 280.00 when 1 metre away

iPhone X
Next to device: 42 – 43 dropping to 0.01 – 0.03 when 1 metre away

Amazon Alexa
Next to device: 64 – 66 dropping to 0.60 – 1.10 when 1 metre away

Sonos
Next to device: 16 – 20 dropping to 0.40 – 0.60 when 1 metre away

Apple Ear Pods
Next to device: 190 – 240

As you can see, the readings drop significantly the further away you are to the device. So, the more distance you can put between yourself and a device, the lower the EMF exposure.  This causes me concern for those devices that you need to place near your head. 

The actions I took were to:

• Panasonic DEC Cordless Phone – I put this in the bin and bought a corded phone
• IPhone X – only use the corded headphones
• Microwave – unplugged it and use a pan instead
• Moved devices towards the back of cabinets away from where we sit
• I have wired in my Dell Laptop and Mac Mini

I still have all of my IoT devices running and I still have 3 wifi routers running 24×7.

My home office has now dropped from a reading of 4 – 5 to 0.2 – 0.4.

The problem with the Apple Ear Pods is that there is no mitigation, you have to put them inside your head and for me, the future risk is not worth the convenience.  I sold mine on eBay.

Here is a video of my Earpods against the meter. Watch how it drops away…

[1]  Pall, M. L. (2013). Electromagnetic fields act via activation of voltage‐gated calcium channels to produce beneficial or adverse effects. Journal of cellular and molecular medicine, 17(8), 958-965. PMID: 23802593 – DOI:10.1111/JCMM.12088