cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42386751
this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
230 points (97.9% liked)
A Boring Dystopia
15329 readers
394 users here now
Pictures, Videos, Articles showing just how boring it is to live in a dystopic society, or with signs of a dystopic society.
Rules (Subject to Change)
--Be a Decent Human Being
--Posting news articles: include the source name and exact title from article in your post title
--If a picture is just a screenshot of an article, link the article
--If a video's content isn't clear from title, write a short summary so people know what it's about.
--Posts must have something to do with the topic
--Zero tolerance for Racism/Sexism/Ableism/etc.
--No NSFW content
--Abide by the rules of lemmy.world
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
A bullshit urban legend that said using your phone while pumping gas would potentially start a fire because of radio waves or some such and spontaneously start fires. It even went so far that gas stations put signs up telling customers to not use their phones.
What really happened was people would start pumping gas with those pumps that had automatic shutoffs, then they’d go sit in the car while it filled the tank to use their phone. When the pump automatically clicked off they’d get up and pull the gas nozzle out. This action caused static buildup getting into/out of the car seat and it discharged grabbing the gas nozzle. Sometimes enough of a discharge to start a fire. Took them a while watching security videos to figure out the sequence of events.
So indirectly it was using a phone that caused the fires, but not the phone itself.