Instigator / Pro
14
1762
rating
45
debates
88.89%
won
Topic
#2352

Resolved: On balance, cell phones pose little health risk.

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
6
0
Better sources
4
4
Better legibility
2
2
Better conduct
2
2

After 2 votes and with 6 points ahead, the winner is...

MisterChris
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
3
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
One week
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
8
1581
rating
38
debates
64.47%
won
Description

I, PRO, believe that cell phones pose little health risk. As CON, you believe the opposite.
BoP is on PRO to prove cell phones pose little tangible harm to our health. CON must disprove or discredit PRO's claims.
DEFINITIONS:
On balance: "after considering the power or influence of both sides of a question"
Cell phones: "a phone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used over a wide area, without a physical connection to a network; a mobile phone."
Little: "a small quantity or degree/insignificant"
Radio waves: "Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light."
STRUCTURE:
R1- Constructive & First Rebuttal. PRO will give a constructive, however CON will attempt to rebut PRO's case.
R2-3- Fluid attack/defense. No set structure here.
RULESET:
1. No new arguments made in final round
2. No trolling
3. You must follow the debate structure
4. No plagiarism
5. Must follow debate definitions.
RULESET PENALTY:
If the ruleset is broken, the penalty will be the loss of a conduct point. By accepting the debate, the contender accepts the RULESET and the RULESET PENALTY.

Criterion
Pro
Tie
Con
Points
Better arguments
3 point(s)
Better sources
2 point(s)
Better legibility
1 point(s)
Better conduct
1 point(s)
Reason:

This comes down to whether I accept con's argument that cellphone is key to warfare and crime (as they outweigh any public health benefits that pro offers). However as pro makes the argument that PEOPLE harm PEOPLE, and that overall the cellphone is not intended or used to this effect, I believe con lost this debate.

Criterion
Pro
Tie
Con
Points
Better arguments
3 point(s)
Better sources
2 point(s)
Better legibility
1 point(s)
Better conduct
1 point(s)
Reason:

When pro got into the flow of pointing back to his old points, this was basically already over. In short: the health benefits surrounding cell phones such as being able to call an ambulance from just about anywhere, by being so much more likely, vastly outweighs the potential for them to contribute to your death in the trenches of a war.

Wealth
Interesting meta topic. They contribute to income growth, decreased inequality, etc., therefore with them available we are more likely to survive cancer (a 60% gain). This leads to better technology being made, and more jobs, etc.
Con counters that such improvement requires people, not cellphones alone...
Pro defends that money changes hands thanks to them.

Violence
Con argued that they are comparable to assault rifles, and then compares them to radios blaming those for the holocaust.
Pro uses the assault rifle comparison to make a ban baguette comparison, and further defends the bread and cellphones for being designed to improve quality of life instead of to kill. And further on the communications angle, that crime has been decreased by them; and first responders use them to get to people in need.
Con defends that hidden organized crime might be thriving; and that in Jamaica since the invention of the cell phone murders have more than doubled.
Pro defends with more sources showing cell phones decreasing crime.

Social Media
Con argues social media harms the health of relationships, and cause such things as depression. And of course social media is often accessed via cell phones.
Pro defends that conflicting studies on social media use, and of course that social media is not on cell phones by default.
Con catches that some do come with these things pre-installed, and further that the text only means of communication offered by cell phones (at least on social media...) is poor for relationship quality.
Pro defends that cell phones open up more means of communication than text only, and implied.