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> France has a huge "cellular EM waves are bad" movement What ?

by pjerem 3y ago

smorrebrod 3y ago
I don't know the spread of this movement but it does exist. For example, the national electric company deployed a new generation of electric meter (Linky) which can communicate data to your supplier using PLC. This communication of course emits EM waves so some people objected to the installation of this meter.
- lloeki 3y ago
  IIRC the EM thing was marginal, a bigger deal was privacy (behaviours could be inferred and resold), and most of the outrage was that people feared being charged more.
- pjerem 3y ago
  I know, I’m French. Those movements exists but they are no more widespread than in any other country.
w0m 3y ago
Sounds similar to the '5g rollout caused covid' movement in the states.
- some_random 3y ago
  5G panic was absolutely not limited to the US, honestly it's probably more prevalent in France, the UK, and Australia
  - mardifoufs 3y ago
    Yes I don't think people realize how widespread stuff like homeopathy, cellular EM scare, antivaxx are widespread in Europe and the rest of the world. The US gets the spotlight but in other countries those opinions are often not even controversial (especially for less obvious stuff like radio waves etc)
  - lloeki 3y ago
    It even predates 5G by a long shot, I recall anecdotes running the news headlines about some folks claiming newly installed (2G? 3G?) cell towers were causing them debilitating headaches, and covering walls and windows with tin foil made it better. It was later revealed that while the tower was indeed up it was entirely unpowered the whole time but that bit of news of course did not make it to the headlines.
    - Aerbil313 3y ago
      But ironically those people were truly and seriously getting headaches and tin foil really made it better. People get to experience what they believe deep in their subconsious. See the Nocebo effect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo Having 2 doctor parents and some amount of experience in the field of hypnosis, I can say these sort of things happen all the time to people.
    - wkat4242 3y ago
      Yeah we had a huge movement in the Netherlands called "stopumts" (umts = 3g) Now those same people are complaining if they only have a 3G connection because they're out of 4g range :) 5g isn't really a thing in the Netherlands yet because of some deal with Inmarsat that has a base station there and is worried about interference.
  - slim 3y ago
    IMHO manufactured panic. psyop
- NullPrefix 3y ago
  Wasn't Italy and Wuhan amongst the first places to roll out 5G?
  - NullPrefix 3y ago
    Downvote me all you want, it doesn't change the fact about 5G rollout there.
mardifoufs 3y ago
Maybe it's just my own perception but it is one of the more widespread "out there" belief in France. It's even supported by national agencies, see my other comment.
- cccbbbaaa 3y ago
  Yeah, but these people typically target antennas, not 3 years old phones. And don't work for the ANFR. Source: french, living in a small town with its own anti-EM association.

> France has a huge "cellular EM waves are bad" movement What ?

by pjerem 3y ago

> France has a huge "cellular EM waves are bad" movement What ?

I don't know the spread of this movement but it does exist. For example, the national electric company deployed a new generation of electric meter (Linky) which can communicate data to your supplier using PLC. This communication of course emits EM waves so some people objected to the installation of this meter.

lloeki 3y ago
IIRC the EM thing was marginal, a bigger deal was privacy (behaviours could be inferred and resold), and most of the outrage was that people feared being charged more.
pjerem 3y ago
I know, I’m French. Those movements exists but they are no more widespread than in any other country.

w0m 3y ago

Sounds similar to the '5g rollout caused covid' movement in the states.

some_random 3y ago
5G panic was absolutely not limited to the US, honestly it's probably more prevalent in France, the UK, and Australia
- mardifoufs 3y ago
  Yes I don't think people realize how widespread stuff like homeopathy, cellular EM scare, antivaxx are widespread in Europe and the rest of the world. The US gets the spotlight but in other countries those opinions are often not even controversial (especially for less obvious stuff like radio waves etc)
- lloeki 3y ago
  It even predates 5G by a long shot, I recall anecdotes running the news headlines about some folks claiming newly installed (2G? 3G?) cell towers were causing them debilitating headaches, and covering walls and windows with tin foil made it better. It was later revealed that while the tower was indeed up it was entirely unpowered the whole time but that bit of news of course did not make it to the headlines.
  - Aerbil313 3y ago
    But ironically those people were truly and seriously getting headaches and tin foil really made it better. People get to experience what they believe deep in their subconsious. See the Nocebo effect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo Having 2 doctor parents and some amount of experience in the field of hypnosis, I can say these sort of things happen all the time to people.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Yeah we had a huge movement in the Netherlands called "stopumts" (umts = 3g) Now those same people are complaining if they only have a 3G connection because they're out of 4g range :) 5g isn't really a thing in the Netherlands yet because of some deal with Inmarsat that has a base station there and is worried about interference.
- slim 3y ago
  IMHO manufactured panic. psyop
NullPrefix 3y ago
Wasn't Italy and Wuhan amongst the first places to roll out 5G?
- NullPrefix 3y ago
  Downvote me all you want, it doesn't change the fact about 5G rollout there.

mardifoufs 3y ago

Maybe it's just my own perception but it is one of the more widespread "out there" belief in France. It's even supported by national agencies, see my other comment.

cccbbbaaa 3y ago
Yeah, but these people typically target antennas, not 3 years old phones. And don't work for the ANFR. Source: french, living in a small town with its own anti-EM association.