About a week ago, my wife informed me that she’d had enough. Enough of the dire predictions of brain cancer, enough of the pointless incoming texts, enough of the time wasted checking voice mails. Enough, already, of her mobile phone. So she left a message on her mobile telling callers to reach her at home or at work. On a LAND LINE. No nasty radiation, no worrying about charging, and vastly improved call quality.

I was more than a little impressed. And jealous. How I’d love to do away with my pocket computer/phone/camera/peso-to-dollar currency converter. And I do try to leave it away from my person as often as I’m able (which is never because I am utterly addicted to that little Blackjack II). But watching her effortlessly and absolutely painlessly move away from her phone is inspiring. She’s exercising more, reading more, even talking to her friends in person on occassion. She’s everything I’m not, everything I can’t be, chained as I am to my posture-destroying, gray matter-frying device. Mind you, she’s no Luddite, just a very smart girl who finally woke up and realized that having her mobile did nothing to improve the quality of her life and arguably impinged upon that quality.

Amazing, I say. How often is it that someone asks, “What am I doing? Why do I have this? What is it doing for me, really?” No, we always buy the newest, latest, just because everyone else (iPhone???) has. In this household, one of us has broken away from the greatest electronic plague in human history. Gives me hope that one day I will be able to shake the infection as well.

Turns out Wi-Fi may well be more damaging to our bodies than mobile signals. In fact, the German government advises it’s citizens to refrain from using Wi-Fi. Along with this, a number of studies show great cause for concern. Rather than link to them, I’ll let you search on your own. The feeling of discovery will be rewarding/I’m too lazy to bother/you should be concerned enough to look it up.

So, as of today, our household is Wi-Fi free. Paranoid? Maybe, but I’ve a six year-old son (kids are far more susceptible, with their reduced bone density) and why not be proactively safe, rather than belatedly sorry? Do I really need to be able to move around into any room with my laptop? Seriously…we’ve become accustomed to so much portability that it’s counter-productive. I prefer spaces designated for certain activities. A house that can quick-change at a moment’s notice (first it’s a bedroom, now it’s an office!), just not for me. Defined spaces, areas I can go to get away…this is what I’m after in a domestic retreat. Tying my computers down, it’s a real domestic improvement. You follow? Oh, my connection speeds are drastically improved, not that it really matters to me.

Ask yourself this question: Is the threat of cancer, proven or not, more important to me than the ability to move my computer around my home. If the answer is yes, ditch your Wi-Fi. If the answer is no, I pity you something fierce.

Now, what to do about my neighbors whose Wi-Fi signals perforate our walls?

(Next Week: A report on how Andrea is faring after her first week of ditching her mobile phone. No, we’re not Luddites, we’ve just realized how we’ve unthinkingly adopted every new techology, without measurable quality of life gains.)