When it comes to cancer, you likely face more danger going out into the sun than you do on a cellphone.

This reminds me of my now ex-eye doctor. Every time I saw him, he warned me to contact him if I ever saw flashes of light which weren't actually there. "It's a symptom of a detached retina," he said. When I pressed him, he'd said he'd only seen one in his entire 20-year career, in a third-world prostitute who'd recently been beaten up. So what is my actual risk of developing a detached retina? Well, my lifetime risk of breast cancer is 2,300 times higher than my risk of a detached retina, and that's considering that I'm 28 now and there's never been a single incidence of breast cancer in my entire family.

So, here's an honest plea from a smart, rational person to a lot of irrational sheep: If we could just ratchet down the hysteria for a minute and pay attention to what's actually important (e.g. wearing sunscreen), I think life for all of us would be measurably better.

-janelane, SPF 15

Cellphones aren't a cancer threat. Why do people always freak out about it? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine