Is Facebook Eavesdropping on Us? Microwaves increase the risk of cancer? Put an end to these myths

“If you call during a thunderstorm, you are more likely to be struck by lightning.”

Using your smartphone outdoors during a thunderstorm will not increase your risk of being struck by lightning. Neither the metal in the device nor the radio waves increase the risk of lightning strikes. The electromagnetic power of a mobile phone is far too low to increase the conductivity of the air.

“Facebook eavesdrops on private conversations.”

For years we have been hearing from colleagues that Facebook showed the appropriate advertisement shortly after a conversation about a certain topic or product. However, to date there is no evidence whatsoever that Facebook, Instagram and Co. eavesdropping on us around the clock and using secret recordings for advertising purposes.

The reason: the tech companies don’t need this at all. Browsing history, search engine queries, app usage data, location history, and online purchases all reveal what we’re interested in — even if we’re not logged into Facebook. On the other hand, listening to billions of users for advertising purposes would be far too complex, data intensive and therefore conspicuous.

The Republic online portal explains the urban legend in an extensive background article and summarizes it: “It would therefore not make economic sense for Facebook, Google and Co. to constantly search the absolutely huge amount of audio data, including all background noise, for certain keywords. (vacuum cleaner, contraception, shoes) to evaluate them in real time for advertising purposes – when they can get the same information as described much cheaper.”

Facebook has denied the rumors several times.

The myths go on like this, but first a short commercial break:

And now back to our technological myths…

“Private mode in the browser prevents tracking and personalized ads.”

Private or incognito mode only means that browsing history and information entered on websites are not stored locally. This prevents, for example, that subsequent users can immediately see which websites you have visited.

Firefox developer Mozilla explains it this way: “Browsing privately doesn’t obscure your identity or online browsing activity. Websites can still collect information about the pages you visit even if you are not logged in. The same goes for your internet service provider. If you use your computer in your business or business, your employer may be able to keep track of the websites you visit.”

“Microwaves increase the risk of cancer.”

Microwaved food is harmless to health – as long as you don’t eat only ready meals. The fact that microwave radiation even increases the risk of cancer “belongs to the realm of myth and legend,” Prof. Martin Lössner, food microbiologist at ETH Zurich, told SRF. The carcinogens are caused by excessive heating, for example when grilling. In the microwave, the heating is much more even. “I would rather say that the formation of carcinogens is minimized there,” says Lössner.

Some vitamins are destroyed when heated in the microwave. But this also happens with other heating methods. The most gentle preparation is “where the food is heated the fastest and for the shortest time and comes into contact with as little liquid as possible,” explains Lössner. All this speaks for the microwave.

Whether microwaved food is healthy or unhealthy ultimately depends mainly on the food choice being prepared. When heating food, however, the choice of crockery is important. Otherwise, harmful substances can be released and end up in the food.

«Always fully charge and discharge your mobile phone. Frequent, short charging will damage the battery.»

The opposite is the case. Modern batteries are most stressed when they are fully charged or completely discharged. Batteries in smartphones like it when they are charged between 20 and 80 percent (which also applies to electric car batteries).

The latest cell phone batteries sometimes have more than 1000 charge cycles before becoming significantly weaker. Good to know: The charge cycle is the process of charging a battery to exactly 100 percent. So five times 20 percent top up is just one charging cycle. Charging the battery from 30 to 80 percent is equivalent to 0.5 charge cycles. Frequent, short or incomplete charging is therefore not a problem.

The mobile phone can also be charged overnight without having to disconnect it from the power supply after charging. The automatic charging system in modern smartphones controls charging so that the battery is charged slowly and gently at night, but as quickly as possible during the day.

“Electric cars are expensive and hardly more climate-friendly than combustion engines.”

Electric cars are even more expensive to purchase, but in terms of integral costing over their entire lifespan, they are usually cheaper than comparable petrol cars. From a certain number of kilometers, depending on the vehicle, the electric car becomes cheaper because the operating costs are lower.

The Touring Club Schweiz (TCS) website compares the total costs and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 2,000 car models. The online tool shows that e-cars initially have a poorer climate balance, but after a certain mileage they emit less greenhouse gases in total than comparable combustion engines.

The climate balance of an electric car is all the better, the more electricity comes from renewable energy sources. “An average middle class passenger car in Switzerland produces almost 30 tons of greenhouse gases with an assumed lifespan of 200,000 kilometers. A comparable petrol car has more than double the emissions from production to disposal,” the TCS writes. In Europe, for climate reasons, only in Estonia and Poland it makes no sense to switch to electric cars.