THE DANGERS OF CELL PHONES 399
The Dangers of Cell Phones
1 It’s your constant companion. It’s in your pocket, in your bag, in your hands, or against
your head. You use it at home, in class, at the gym, before you go to sleep at night and first thing
when you wake up in the morning. I’m talking, of course, about your cell phone. According to my
class survey, everyone in this room has a cell phone, and all of us use it dozens of times every day.
2 But what if your constant companion is dangerous? What if it’s hazardous to your health?
Evidence is piling up that long-term use of cell phones can lead to tissue damage, tumors, and even
brain cancer. Given that there are well over 4 billion people worldwide using cell phones, we’re
looking at a problem of potentially staggering magnitude. According to Devra Davis, epidemiolo-
gist and author of the 2010 book Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, we may be
watching “an epidemic in slow motion.”
3 I’d never thought much about the possible perils of cell phones before I saw a CBS News
report on the subject earlier this year. But doing extensive research for this speech made me realize
that cell phones do in fact pose a danger to our health.
4 Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to try to persuade you to abandon your constant compan-
ion. I still use mine on a regular basis, and I probably always will. But I do hope to persuade you to
6 It’s this long-term use of cell phones that has led researchers to warn about their danger. In
one study, for example, the World Health Organization tracked 10,000 cell phone users over the
course of 10 years. As reported in the New York Times on November 13, 2010, the data in this
study indicated that subjects who used a cell phone 10 or more years doubled the risk of develop-
ing brain tumors.
7 Other studies have reached the same conclusion. Perhaps most important is a study in the
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that surveyed all the previous research on
cell phone use. It found “a consistent pattern of increased risk” for developing brain tumors among
people who used cell phones for more than 10 years.
400 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
8 Alan Marks is one of those people. A 58-year-old real estate developer and father of three,
he talked on his cell phone an hour a day for 23 years. Two years ago, doctors found a golf-ball–
sized tumor in his brain. “There’s no question what caused it,” he says. “It was my cell phone.”
9 And Alan Marks isn’t the only person to conclude that he’s sick because of his cell phone.
Ann Gittleman’s 2010 book Zapped, which deals at length with the health problems of cell phones,
catalogues people who developed blinding headaches, dizziness, circulatory problems, nausea, and
cancer from the kind of radiation emitted by cell phones.
10 Still not convinced about the potential dangers posed by your constant companion? Take a
look, then, inside the thick manual that comes with your phone. You’ll see that all cell phone man-
12 At the very least, you should hold the phone one-half an inch to one full inch away from
your ear. But ideally, you should get in the habit of not putting it up to your head at all. I now use
my earbuds almost every time I use my phone. Another option is to use your speakerphone.
13 As with breaking any habit, changing the way you talk on your cell phone may be slightly
inconvenient at first but will soon become second nature. You’ll be able to enjoy all the benefits of
your constant companion without suffering the fate of Alan Marks. If Marks had known the dan-
gers of prolonged cell phone use, he would have done things a lot differently. “I wouldn’t have
held it to my head,” he says. “I would have used the headset. I would have used the speakerphone.
. . . And I would not have had the problems I had.”
THE DANGERS OF CELL PHONES 401
The Dangers of Cell Phones
Commentary
By analyzing the use of supporting materials in a speech, students often get a better idea of how to use
them in their own speeches. “The Dangers of Cell Phones” has a variety of supporting materials and
illustrates how they can be employed to clarify and bolster a speaker’s ideas. It also provides an oppor-
tunity for students to discuss how the speaker could have employed supporting materials more effective-
ly. In addition to having students read the speech, you may want to show the video of it, which is available
as part of the DVD of student speeches that accompanies this edition of The Art of Public Speaking. The
video is also available on Connect. Here is a synopsis of the speech, with special attention to its main
points and use of supporting materials.
Specific Purpose:
To persuade my audience to change the way they use their cell phones.
Central Idea:
Because of the health risks associated with cell–phone radiation, you should avoid press-
ing your cell phone against your head while using it.
Method of Organization: Monroe’s motivated sequence
Introduction: The introduction consists of paragraphs 1–4. Paragraph 1 gains attention by arousing curios-
ity about the audience’s “constant companion.” The heavy use of “you” and “your” helps draw the
Body: Because this speech is organized according to Monroe’s motivated sequence, there are three
main points in the body—one establishing the need, one satisfying the need, and one visualizing
the speaker’s solution. The need point runs from paragraph 5 through paragraph 10. Here the
speaker argues that long–term exposure to cell–phone radiation may be harmful. The satisfaction
Conclusion: The conclusion consists of paragraphs 14–15 and presents the action step of the motivat-
ed sequence. In paragraph 14 the speaker signals that her speech is coming to an end. Using
“you” and “your” to relate to her listeners, she pleads with them to take simple steps to protect
their health. As can be seen from the video of the speech, the ending is particularly effective,
both in content and delivery.
402 PERSUASIVE SPEECHES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Supporting Materials: Because this speech deals with a controversial topic, and because most students
are not aware of the potential dangers of prolonged cell–phone use, it is imperative that the
speaker back up her claims with strong evidence. For the most part, she does this effectively, cit-
ing a wide range of studies and experts in support of her position
Testimony, especially expert testimony, plays a crucial role in this speech. Because the
speaker is not an authority on cell phones, she relies on the judgments of credible experts to
lend probative force to her claims. In the introduction, the speaker quotes epidemiologist Devra
The speaker also makes effective use of examples. The extended example of Alan Marks,
which first appears in paragraph 8, personalizes the problem and reinforces evidence from else-
where in the speech. The story of Marks is vivid and richly textured, and as students can see from
the video, the speaker practiced her delivery to maximize the story’s impact. She talks extempo-
raneously, personably, sincerely, and with concern for her audience. In paragraph 9, she follows
the Marks example with evidence from Ann Gittleman’s book Zapped to show that Marks’s expe-
rience is not atypical. The Marks example comes up again in the visualization section (paragraph
13), where the speaker quotes Marks’s belief that he would not have developed cancer if he had