Which is better for your health? Telephone or mobile I rarely use my mobile.  Like a pensioner, I keep it switched off most of the time, for use only when I need to check in at home or for emergencies.  That’s why I don’t publish the number on my website or business card.

The reason is a pretty compelling one – if I make a call with the phone to my ear, shortly afterwards my ear hurts inside.  It started when long phone calls using a cordless phone would make my ear hot, and then when I was a writing student at UCF and using the mobile more often, I noticed the pain.  Now I only ever use it with the loudspeaker on so it’s away from my ear, which as you can imagine is not always very convenient.

I did get the doctor to check me out.  He peered inside and pronounced everything perfectly healthy, which was a relief, but he didn’t seem very surprised by my problem and said that call centre staff can suffer badly in this way, wearing headsets all the time.

I do feel slightly freakish when I have to tell people and I’ve only ever heard of one other person who has the same experience.  Do let me know if you know of others.