E

ven if you’ve never really paid attention to them, you’ve probably noticed them: those odd, overly tall trees standing out against the landscape. Oh, they try to disguise themselves with foliage and branches, but it’s pretty easy to see the forest for the (cell phone tower) trees lurking in it.

Those “trees” are actually cell phone towers masquerading as pines, firs, elms, cypresses, and even palms and cacti. They’re found all over the world. And they’re transmitting your cell phone conversations.

Camouflage and Controversy

If a cell phone company, say Verizon, wanted to build an enormous antenna in your backyard, would your parents let them? (Try to guess the answer before you ask; it shouldn’t be too hard!) Unless that company was going to offer your family enough money to actually let you move to a newer and better house, the answer would probably be a resounding NO!

What if your school was asked to house a cell tower in the yard? It would improve cell reception in the whole area! It would offer subscribers wider coverage! Do you think the school board would approve?

What about putting a cell tower in the center of your town or setting it up in a beautiful natural landscape, like right next to a waterfall or in a national park? What about alongside a famous historical site?

While people do want to be able to hear each other on their phones and they do want to be able to talk and get calls wherever they are, they don’t want towers… basically anywhere!

Enter the Disguises

Cell towers are ugly. They destroy the natural setting. They’re tall hunks of metal. They’re eyesores. People worry that they will make their property decrease in value. And there are lots of rumors and reports about the health effects of living, playing, or hanging out around a cell phone tower. Cell providers say they’re not dangerous, while advocacy groups say they can produce cancer-causing radiation. Some people even think they’re being used to spy on citizens. (Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy?) This is where the “trees” come in.

Standing Out

Today it’s hard to imagine a time when cellphones weren’t everywhere. But not so many years ago, that was the case. As cell phones became more and more popular, we needed more and more towers to carry all those conversations and transmit a cell signal. (Hello! Hello! Can you hear me?) And more towers meant putting them in places where they weren’t necessarily wanted. Cell companies are mostly allowed by law to put up their towers, but cities still fight it because their residents don’t want them and they ruin the appearance of the city. (There are often regulations in place about how close to residential areas they can be, how tall they can be and so on.) So the communications companies came up with an idea that would be a kind of compromise: dressing up their towers as trees.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 753)