In the modern word, people migrate toward areas with wireless Internet, or Wi-Fi, to try to stay plugged in. They sit, hot coffee at hand, for hours on end in cafes with signs proclaiming to be wireless hotspots.
But some people have the opposite reaction to the wireless movement. Instead of seeking out the freedom to log on anywhere, anytime, they run away.
“If I walk into a room or building that has Wi-Fi, my most immediate sign is that the front of my right thigh goes numb,” said Arthur Firstenberg, 57, of Santa Fe, N.M. “If I don’t leave, I’ll get short of breath, chest pains and the numbness will spread.”
Firstenberg is one of a small group of people who believe they have Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), a condition in which they are highly sensitive to electromagnetic fields and experience pain or other symptoms when they encounter them.
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