On local radio a couple of days ago was a debate on what age should children be given mobile phones. Whilst the host was rather unrealistically saying he thought around 14 years old, many of the listeners were advising their kids had mobiles at 7 years old.

More as an emergency aid and to keep track of them rather than for them to make calls or texts. There are a couple of reasons why mobile phones could be harmful to kids.

The first is the health factor. Whilst there has been no major research which can conclusively confirm a link between prolonged mobile phone usage and cancer the technology is in its infancy and therefore long term risks have not had time to be assessed.

Many cancer experts believe the radiation from mobile phones could pose a significant risk for long term usage over a long period (say 10 years). The dangers for children are that much greater, so caution is advised.

The second is the effect it could have on their education. Recent reports suggest increased use of mobile phones (and the internet) leads children to copy homework directly from websites and use text-speak in their written schoolwork.

This is in schools where mobile phones are banned. In the USA there have been trials where mobile phones have been integrated into pupils learning and have shown achievement scores increase by 25% on average.

We can conclude from this that it is not the mobiles themselves that are harmful, more the way in which they are used. Used sensibly and sparingly mobile phones can be of great benefit.