Allergic to Wi-fi? Most Perturbatory..., A real person is allergic to it? Options

[Warmaster Lah]

From OMG-Facts.

There's a man who is 'allergic' to Wi-Fi.

When he's around a wi-fi signal, it makes him feel "dizzy, sick and confused." It's a condition called "Electromagnetic Sensitivity". With the increase in the availability of public wi-fi, this guy has had to drastically go out of his way to avoid the signals. "I feel like an exile on my own planet. It's almost impossible to find somewhere without wi-fi nowadays.".

----

Now I couldnt find any links on the site to verify but I will look for it.

Someone could be aware of wi-fi.... my sci-fi story might not be so far fetched then....

Found it I think: Link

[Yerameyahu]

Nope. It's an increasingly common delusion/hoax that hasn't (yet? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) ) held up to testing.

Given the prevalence of EM radiation of all kinds everywhere, it's very suspicious that these people just claim 'wi-fi' (and occasionally cell towers instead).

[Dr.Rockso]

From OMG-Facts.

There's a man who is 'allergic' to Wi-Fi.

When he's around a wi-fi signal, it makes him feel "dizzy, sick and confused." It's a condition called "Electromagnetic Sensitivity". With the increase in the availability of public wi-fi, this guy has had to drastically go out of his way to avoid the signals. "I feel like an exile on my own planet. It's almost impossible to find somewhere without wi-fi nowadays.".

----

Now I couldnt find any links on the site to verify but I will look for it.

Someone could be aware of wi-fi.... my sci-fi story might not be so far fetched then....

Sounds like he would benefit from a tinfoil hat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

[Ol' Scratch]

Either way, it's covered in Shadowrun. Unwired has a negative quality that deals with the same basic concept, though I don't recall the name off the top of my head. Runner's Companion has a positive metagenic trait that works on the concept, too, but to the character's benefit. Then you have Technomancers who feel exactly the opposite; a lack of a signal makes them all weird feeling.

[AStarshipforAnts]

Either way, it's covered in Shadowrun. Unwired has a negative quality that deals with the same basic concept, though I don't recall the name off the top of my head. Runner's Companion has a positive metagenic trait that works on the concept, too, but to the character's benefit. Then you have Technomancers who feel exactly the opposite; a lack of a signal makes them all weird feeling.

The quality is AIPS.

The character has Artificially Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia
Syndrome, a psychological disorder most common to survivors of the Matrix Crash of 2064. For each level of this quality taken (max. 3), the character suffers a –1 dice pool penalty to Perception Tests while within Signal range of a Matrix device (including her own). Additionally, the gamemaster may require a successful Willpower Success Test with a threshold equal to the level of this quality when the character must focus her attention in a non-stressful situation.

[Sheala]

My mother claims she is allergic to mobile radiation. As a technophobe, she is not even aware about wifi signals everywhere. Also she seem to be upset when she actually SEES the cellphone, and displays no symptoms when cellphone is present without her awareness. Maybe my mom has AIPS, but I think she is just nuts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) .
Okay i know how does psychosomatics work.I am a psycholopgy student anyway

[Sengir]

Link

If The Sun wrote that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, I wouldn't believe them until seeing it myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


The whole scare about radiation for cellphones, power lines and whatnot has been around for decades, but never once has one of the alleged sufferers been able to reliably tell the presence of EM radiation in a double-blind study.

[Cabral]

My mother in law appears to be sensitive to EM radiation. It can be anything from her hand feeling warm if she holds her cellphone for too long to have difficulty sleeping with power meters on the other side of her bedroom wall.

It could be psychosomatic but I am going to side on "real impact of EM fields".

[Hand-E-Food]

There's only 912 days left until the dawn of the sixth age. The transition is starting! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Draco18s]

It can be anything from her hand feeling warm if she holds her cellphone for too long

Or you know. A buildup of actual heat.

My phone sometimes feels warm in my pocket (and then I pull it out to find the camera's on and its draining the battery, causing an excessive buildup of waste heat).

[hermit]

When he's around a wi-fi signal, it makes him feel "dizzy, sick and confused." It's a condition called "Electromagnetic Sensitivity". With the increase in the availability of public wi-fi, this guy has had to drastically go out of his way to avoid the signals. "I feel like an exile on my own planet. It's almost impossible to find somewhere without wi-fi nowadays.".

Oh look, he's allergic to light.

[suoq]

Link

Ars Technica responds in advance (same guy, a year ago)

This post has been edited by suoq: Jun 22 2010, 10:41 PM

[Hand-E-Food]

Oh look, he's allergic to light.

Actually, light allergy is a real condition: Xeroderma pigmentosum.

[Mesh]

LoL, so if this guy...

"If I go somewhere, I can instantly sense the wi-fi and have to leg it."

...can instantly sense it, what the frag is he doing with a wi-fi detector? So he can know when he has a headache?

Mesh

[Railgun]

I can hear electricity. Outlets and stuff that are in rooms give out this super high pitch ring in my ears. Kinda like that sound capacitors in old cameras and stuff make, except constant and never changing in pitch. Its annoying. But someone getting dizzy from wifi, glad I don't have that.

[Draco18s]

I can hear electricity. Outlets and stuff that are in rooms give out this super high pitch ring in my ears. Kinda like that sound capacitors in old cameras and stuff make, except constant and never changing in pitch. Its annoying.

My ears aren't (weren't?) that sensative, but I could hear CRT monitors in sleep mode (PC off, monitor on) and could not stand a ticking clock (I went Captain Hook on them--well, ok, I wanted to).

[hobgoblin]

i can hear when a CRT is on, but there is no image or sound, thanks to its slight buzzing noise.

but wifi allergy, bah.

[Yerameyahu]

Yeah, you lose the higher frequencies as you age. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[hobgoblin]

Yeah, you lose the higher frequencies as you age. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

funny enough, i think i have managed to retain most of it, tho its still "early" days as i have only just started on the down hill part towards adult diapers.

[Method]

Xeroderma pigmentosum isn't an allergy- its an inability to repair damage to your DNA caused by UV radiation. An actual allergy to light would not be conducive to life. Nor would an allergy to radio waves (wifi), which by the way aren't a new invention- they are a cosmic phenomenon that probably started oh... around the time of the Big Bang! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohplease.gif) {edit: which is an oxymoron I suppose, since time also started with the Big Bang, but whatever...}

Lucky for us our immune system (the basis for allergies) cannot detect and react specifically to various forms of electromagnetic radiation. In fact, the known effects of radiation on the immune system are *immunosuppressive* and that takes considerably higher energy than radio waves.

This whole thing is nonsense.

[Yerameyahu]

I always assumed that CRT capacitor whine was a common thing. I don't see many CRTs any more, but they always used to make that noise for me.

[Method]

If anyone is interested:

Rubin GJ, Nieto-Hernandez R, Wessely S. Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (formerly 'electromagnetic hypersensitivity'): An updated systematic review of provocation studies. Bioelectromagnetics. 2010 Jan;31(1):1-11.

Here's the punch line:

To date, 46 studies involving 1175 volunteers with
IEI-EMF have tested whether exposure to electro-
magnetic fields can trigger the symptoms reported by
this group. These studies have produced little evidence
to suggest that this is the case or that individuals
with IEI-EMF are particularly adept at detecting the
presence of electromagnetic fields. On the other hand,
many of these studies have found evidence that the
nocebo effect is a sufficient explanation for the acute
symptoms reported in IEI-EMF. Thus while continued
experimental research in this area will be required to
clarify the role of chronic exposures and to test the
effects of new varieties of electromagnetic emissions,
the best evidence currently available suggests that IEI-
EMF should not be viewed as a bioelectromagnetic
phenomenon.

[Draco18s]

I always assumed that CRT capacitor whine was a common thing. I don't see many CRTs any more, but they always used to make that noise for me.

My parents could never hear it, despite how much I bitched about making sure to turn the monitor off.

[Cthulhudreams]

The guy referenced in the OP is a crank.

My parents could never hear it, despite how much I bitched about making sure to turn the monitor off.

This is because your parents have natural hearing loss through age.

[Martin_DeVries_I...]

Xeroderma pigmentosum isn't an allergy- its an inability to repair damage to your DNA caused by UV radiation. An actual allergy to light would not be conducive to life. Nor would an allergy to radio waves (wifi), which by the way aren't a new invention- they are a cosmic phenomenon that probably started oh... around the time of the Big Bang! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohplease.gif) {edit: which is an oxymoron I suppose, since time also started with the Big Bang, but whatever...}

Lucky for us our immune system (the basis for allergies) cannot detect and react specifically to various forms of electromagnetic radiation. In fact, the known effects of radiation on the immune system are *immunosuppressive* and that takes considerably higher energy than radio waves.

Sir, this is the Internet. Your "facts," "logic," and "rational thinking" have no place here. Begone!