Elementary question, please

I'm a grandmother and don't know a lot about this stuff, but my son has been using his cell phone to make long duration phone calls to me (like on Mother's Day)... and I remind him about the danger.  He says he is using a set of earphones, just like you'd use to listen to music with a regular head set... plugs it into his cell phone and thinks he is safe.  It is not hollow, like some of those attachments, it is wired.  Could someone tell me if this is okay, and if not, what could he use with his phone.  He moved away from family and makes many calls home, and I think this is bad.  Thank you for any answers.  Marji

I'm not an expert, I hope others will chime in, Marji.

I know that there are some ear phones that block some of the e-smog to go through (not the common ear phones found everywhere).

In my non-expert view, it would be already better to use any ear phones though, than talking with that cell phone directly on the ear.

Young people have thinner skulls, and are more affected than older.

But just holding the cell phone in the hands will pass the e-smog to the body (better hands than brain, though...).

The closest to the emitting source of radiation, the worst effect.
The farther, the better.

The very best is not use it at all.

I get ear pain if I talk longer, and this freaks me, so I stop.
It's not imaginary pain, but very real, only on the ear that is close to the phone.

Even house phones have the same effect (if wireless).

Ideal would be wired phones, no cell phone.

2nd best: buy proper ear phones, use the minimum possible, keep cell phone off most of the time, try not to hold it in the hands (leave it on a table, for example).

Ask him to make long calls from a cabled phone. You know, the old style phones....

I hope other people chime in and tell you their views.

nice you are a grandma that is informed and care for your family!

Short of using a corded phone or using speaker mode he's doing about the best thing as long as the phone's not sitting on his lap or against his body.

When I was at my worst I couldnt use even corded headset for very long time, but now I can. Anyway he can buy 4-poles 3 meter(or longer..) extension cord that fits the phone model and mount it between headset and telephone. Then he can have it 4 meter away and unless he is extremely affected by ES he should be fine and the use would cause him no harm. IMO

The earplug will turn into an antenna, emitting right on top of the ear.
So ordinary headphones are of little use and possibly even worse.
You need either these airtube ones or those with a transformer halfway the wires.
However both still emit pretty close to your body.
If the phone has a good speaker and microphone and there is not a lot of noise around, it is preferable to use the speakerphone function and keep as much distance as is workable, 3 meter or 10 feet is often no problem.

I wrongly wrote "earplugs" instead of earphones.
The latter either plug into the ear or sit on top of it, the principle will be the same, the distance merely half an inch worse or less bad.
I am not a technician, but read that the signal tends to find the longest antenna ( in this case the wire ) and emits mostly from the the end of it ( the earphone-speaker ).
A curled extendable wire may have an impact, and really long ends may be less bad.
The exact effects can best simply be measured, e.g. with a Cornet ED88TPlus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThCq7Ef9VMk

Thank you all for your comments, all of them supporting my concern about my son's use of his phone. I am going to wait to assemble anymore comments that may yet arrive because my son will need the force of numbers to convince him... a few suggestions may not move his stubborn streak.  This has been very helpful to me.  I read this every day that it comes out and I try to teach my kids what you have learned.  My great grandson freaked me out the other day as he held his dad's cell phone to his ear and giggled.  When I screamed at his dad, the answer was "Oh he just loves that phone, it's hard to get it away from him."  My great grandson is 3. So sad.

Any kind of ear/headphones are better (except bluetooth) in my experience.  I also get earaches from having a cell phone to my ear too long (feels like an ear infection), but I haven't noticed anything obvious from wired headphones.

I'd suggest anyone get a Defender Shield phone case. They claim (with studies) to block 99% of EMF https://www.defendershield.com/testing/ I have no affilitaion with them.

Even if they aren't perfect, aside from not having a phone, it's one of the best options we have.

I think the theory of wired headsets bringing the radiation to the head are a myth. At least I couldnt detect any rf field from the wired headsets with my meters while it is high by my phone. I also don't get headache with a wired headset and extension cord as I do if I hold the telephone to my head.

It may also depend on the phone, how it is wired.
In the video i linked it is rather clear that the radiation is very high where the wires end and the airtubes begin.
Whatever may be the case, the phone itself should be always kept at a large distance.
If it sits on the body away from the head, the rf will still be very strong at another part of the body.
Another, although likely lesser, issue is the lower frequency magnetic fields coming from the phone.
Marji, it is indeed sad that most people are unable to consider that something could be harmful if the majority still believes it is safe.
It is usually a question of spineless herd-spirit and blind obedience to commonly accepted ideas.
There were days that people sprayed DDT all over their houses before closing it off and going on holidays, in order to kill any little uncivilized bug, as they could not imagine that a legal and widely used chemical couild be poisonous.
You could buy a meter, preferable with sound as well, and show that the emfs are there, your son may get interested in the topic and start to do some research, like through :
http://www.bioinitiative.org/table-of-contents/
https://www.emf-portal.org/en
The meter i mentioned before would give bang for the buck, it is rather sensitive, has sound-output, measures some low frequencies as well, and even has a build-in frequency display ( in the range between 100MHz-2.7Ghz ), although no meter measures everything accurately of course.