Wave Hoax Tricks Gullible iPhone Users Into Microwaving Their Phones

[dlevere]

The "Wave" hoax assures iPhone users that they can charge their Apple devices by microwaving them.

By Steven Bogos

Anyone who has passed grade school no doubt knows (or has even experienced first hand) the destruction caused from putting metal and plastic in the microwave. But, when a legit looking hoax tells iPhone users they can "charge" their phones by microwaving them, more than a few rubes fell for the rather cruel prank, and are showcasing their destroyed devices via Twitter.

First up, here is the "Wave" hoax image that's been floating around the web:


Warning: do not try this at home.

As you can see from the fake advert, the hoax involves tricking users into throwing their phones into the microwave, with the promise of a quick charge. Fansided has gone ahead and collected some of the best Twitter reactions of people falling for the prank. Check out Apple's most gullible fans bellow:

I hate yall pic.twitter.com/EuJ8Kf3z2E— Nigeria's Finestâ„¢ (@DMV_Drummerboyy) September 18, 2014

Omgggg that wave thing for iOS 8 just blew my microwave up 😡😡😡😡 pic.twitter.com/eF4bLDMhDB— Magnetic Man (@JordanBeeTheGee) September 19, 2014

I tried using the new IOS 8 feature WAVE where you can charge your phone with a microwave, does not work @Apple pic.twitter.com/IWsWnVboUl— nick (@Fallenbot) September 18, 2014

Anyone naive enough to put their phone in a microwave to "charge it," deserves whatever happens to them. pic.twitter.com/dATWNCBcXE— Carmela & The Beast (@CarmelaMarciano) September 19, 2014

Just when I think he gets no dumber, he try's charging his phone using a microwave... #anyonecangetahsdiploma pic.twitter.com/YejcSGxqs5— ChristianRenee' (@Cee_Payton) July 4, 2014

We at the Escapist would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Apple, as worshiped as they are, has not earned the power to change the laws of physics, and until that day comes, microwaving your phone will only destroy it, and possibly the microwave used in the process.

Thank you, and stay in school.

Source: Fansided

[Dybbles]

I remember when 4chan made an ad that told people if they upgraded their phones to IOS 7, it would become water proof.
This reminds me exactly of that...

Way to go, retards.

[bungholio]

It's obvious to many of us, but we all grew up differently too. This really could fool a lot of people, you're not guaranteed to be taught how to use a microwave in your life time. I know not to put metal in the things, even though I don't know why other than once I didn't realize some very thing strip of shiny silver color was on the top rim of a colorful plastic cup and it started blasting sparks instantly so I instantly shut it off and realized it was metal. I don't know a thing about microwaves and I never use them, I just think of them as radiation blasters and I stay away from them if people use them.

I also remember at some point there was mention on the internet of some girl in school doing a science experiment where she either boiled water to a high temperature and let it cool down, or microwaved water and let it cool down so them heat and everything was about the same. She would then use the boiled water on some plants, and microwaved water on the others. In a month the boiled water ones grew fine and the microwaved water ones died very quickly. I never used it for anything because I just assumed it was doing harmful changes to everything, and then I saw that many years later somewhere and think I probably made a good choice.

[Pyriel]

That experiment was bullshit from start to finish. It's been repeated several times with different, and sometimes opposite results, i.e., the plants given the microwaved water grew best.

The radiation microwave ovens emit is non-ionizing. For the most part, all it does is cause motion in water molecules, creating friction, which in turn creates heat that warms your food. The way microwaves are built essentially renders them a Faraday cage for the frequencies emitted by the magnetron, so there's little to no danger in standing around one. Mainly they warn you off if you're using some life-sustaining device that a strong electromagnetic field can potentially interfere with. Any theories you've heard about a running microwave interfering with brain waves or wrecking your DNA are nonsense, unless you're standing inside one. In which case your DNA and brainwaves are the least of your concerns.

[bungholio]

I never did look too far into the experiment. But it's nice to hear the other side of it, I usually never get both because the internet is filled with fear inducing lies everywhere. I've been avoiding the junk for the past 3 years though, the "natural" people make every little thing created by man sound like the end of the world. I really just assumed the waves were causing some really weird deformation of molecules that was unhealthy to eat or something since I've never been told anything about them beyond not putting metal in them. I still just take the extra time to bake things or fry them, for some reason I like my Banquet Chicken Mashed Potatoes and Corn better in the oven, the breading gets weird in the microwave. The only thing I use it for any more is quickly melting butter when I'm making lazy man's Jello Cheesecake, it's a lot easier than using a frying pan forever and wasting a bunch of the butter.

[Pyriel]

I'm generally with you on the consistency and texture (what have you) of food from the microwave. It has its uses, but most of the time I'd rather take the extra time to use an oven, even if I'm just reheating something.

The idea that it's unhealthy to microwave food is either based on woo about irradiation or weird theories about chemical reactions of the sort you mentioned, or it's just based on a study or two where microwave cooking leeched more nutrients out of the food. It's worth noting that the techniques used to cook the food were kind of bizarre in at least one of the studies, and none I've ever read actually looked at more than one or two nutrients. As I recall, the main study cited for that claim actually used some sort of "rack" in the microwave and a reservoir of water to steam whatever vegetable they were cooking for about 5 minutes. Which is pretty much using your microwave as a vegetable sauna. In later research, where the vegetables were nuked with little or no water in a covered dish for less time, the effect was less pronounced. In fact, I think it's actually recommended by some that you nuke broccoli rather than steam it on the stove, if you're looking to have it retain the highest amounts of vitamins.

[Lazy Bastard]

While it's amusing to imagine a hypothetical person gullibly nuking their phone, I don't subscribe to the "You deserve it for being stupid/ignorant" argument. It's not unheard of for a family to die on a camping trip because they didn't consider proper ventilation for a portable propane heater in a tent, and suffer fatal carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep. This also involves ignorance about something most people are aware of, but which some either never learned or simply neglected to take into account at the time, but it isn't amusing, because it sucks for the ones suffering the consequences. It's a more extreme example, but it illustrates the same point: people do not deserve bad things to happen to them because of ignorance or lack of intelligence. And some people can't afford to replace a destroyed phone, or worse, are still paying for a phone they can no longer use (of course, you and I may know that misused credit is a bad idea, and you shouldn't own a phone you can't afford to replace, but not everyone is thus enlightened).

You could take the harsh, natural view and note that civilization protects the weak, unintelligent, ignorant, etc, whereas nature typically kills many of these off before they reproduce, thereby promoting higher intelligence, strength, and so forth - and that the lack of this culling produces a dysgenic effect on society, and therefore you wish to promote malady for the weak in order to help nature along - but then you would be Apocalypse from Marvel Comics The Darwin Awards are not amusing to me either, for the same reason. While some components of this view are technically correct, there are better ways to improve the world than laughing at one another's misfortune.

[MathUser]

This is a hilarious hoax, it's sad and all too. But yeah, it takes a nieve person to fall for this. Most people should know better.

[bungholio]

Most people should know better.

There really is no such thing. It's like when people say "Don't people have any common sense?". There is no knowledge on this planet every individual has in common nullifying that quote. When I was young, I was told to not put metal objects in a microwave. Nobody ever explained why, they didn't know and neither did the people that told them, it was a chain of "Just don't do it." from person to person. It might be something many people in the US know, but they likely don't exactly know why, and people grow up in all kinds of parts of the world and wouldn't know because they might not have heard of a "microwave" until they moved to the US or some other place. Somebody tells them to use it to heat up their food, so they just put their can of soup or bowl of ramen with the fork still in the bowl and turn on the microwave and walk away. It might immediately start sparking and making crazy noises and they wouldn't know why. I don't even know why it sparks, but I don't care because I never use one for anything because it makes the texture of things really weird to me so I just fry or bake things.