4 Tech Myths That (Thankfully) Never Came True

People used to believe this stuff — some still do

Photo by dogherine on Unsplash

Cell phones, the home computer, the internet, these are all things that are extremely new in the realm of human experience. With new experiences comes new information and with new information comes new misconceptions. These things have been around long enough that we pretty much know how they work and their real inherent risks but that was not always the case. Here are four myths about technology that made waves but never actually came true.

1. Cell phones attract lightning

There was a time when people thought that having a cell phone in your pocket would increase your likelihood of being struck by lightning. If you were talking on the phone during a storm, good luck, because you were probably dead meat. This fear seemed to peak in 2006 right around when cell phones started become more and more ubiquitous.

Fervor was ignited when the British Medical Journal used the case of a 15 year old girl who was struck by lightning while talking on a cell phone to highlight the risk cell phones posed in a thunderstorm. The story was picked up by the BBC.

The myths said that the conductive metals in a cell phone attracts the electricity in lightning and directs it into the…