Most people are excited for the advent of speedy 5G wireless connections, unless you’re Rosi Gladwell who thinks that the networks are actually out to kill her. Living in Totnes, Devon in the UK, Rosi has gone to great lengths to avoid cities and cellphones alike in fear of the debilitating mobile signals there. The 70-year-old goes to sleep in a 400 copper lined sleeping bag with a head cover, and a radiation detector close at hand. She says it is the only way she can get a good night’s sleep.
Self-diagnosed, she calls it her “Wi-Fi sickness” and blames her constant fatigue and illness to wireless connections. She avoids big towns completely and when the symptoms get too much she goes on a two day TV detox. But despite her best efforts she says that the rollout of 5G wireless connections will mean the death of her.
“I’m actually quite frightened about the future,” she told Metro.
“At the moment, I’ve managed to make myself safe by being fortunate enough to live in a house in the countryside where there are no measured electromagnetic frequencies. But if they introduce 5G then I don’t know what the future will bring. It’s a really scary issue.”
But are Rosi’s ailments real or simply a hoax? The answer is quite surprising.
Rosi’s sickness is known in the medical community as electromagnetic fields sensitivity or EMF. According to the World Health Organization an estimated four percent of world population suffers from EMF but other scientists consider even this figure to be an underestimation.
Rosi first realized her illness six years ago when she turned off her landlines and WiFi in her home and instantly felt better 10 minutes later. In order to live her day to day life she must be careful of where she travels. At cafes she always sits outside if possible and always brings her meter with her to read the radiation levels in the room. In 2016, Rosi even appealed to have WiFi removed from the Spanish town of Polopos and met with the city’s mayor. Back in Totnes she leads a group of EMF-afflicted people and tries to educate others on the dangers of radiation.
In the meantime Rosi will continue to avoid towns, but as mobile networks continue to grow she feels the signals getting stronger.