Which of the following was not listed as a basic guideline for cell phone use in public?

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If you’re thinking about a mobile phone for your child, or your child already has a phone, it’s important to think about how you’ll help your child learn to use the phone responsibly.

Responsible mobile phone use is about:

• sticking to family rules about phone use
• managing costs by keeping track of call, text and data usage
• keeping the phone charged and safe and not losing or damaging it
• being safe and respectful in calls, texts and social media posts.

Role-modelling responsible mobile phone use

You can encourage your child to use their mobile phone responsibly by modelling healthy and responsible phone use yourself.

To start with, you could think about your own technology use. For example, if you want family meals or other activities to be phone free, you could make a point of switching off your phone at these times. This sets a great example for your child.

It’s a good idea to talk with your child about having phone-free time regularly. Some families like to have phone-free afternoons or days for the whole family. Others try to take a no-internet holiday every now and then – for example, on a camping trip.

Rules for mobile phone use

It’s a good idea to discuss and agree on mobile phone rules with your child. These might be rules about what your child can use their phone for, where and when they can use it, and how much they can spend on usage.

Here are some examples of mobile phone rules for your child:

• What: your child must answer your calls and texts. Your child can also use their phone to contact friends and listen to music. Your child can’t use the phone to watch movies online. Depending on your child’s age, they must ask you before downloading new apps.
• Where: your child can use their phone on the way to Grandma’s, but it must stay in their bag at her house.
• When: your child can use their phone during the day and early evening, but not between 9 pm and 7 am.
• How much: your child can use the plan’s monthly allowance, but there won’t be any extra payments if they run out of minutes or data.

Here are some examples of mobile phone rules for the whole family:

• Mobile phones are either switched off or not used during family meals.
• Mobile phones stay out of bedrooms after a time you agree on.
• Mobile phones and other devices are charged in a family area overnight.
• Mobile phones are put down when you’re talking face to face with each other.

You might find it helps to create an agreement that both you and your child sign. You could make this part of a family media plan covering all types of devices and media use. If you choose to have a formal agreement, it’s a good idea to revise it together regularly to make sure it still meets your needs and your child’s needs as they get older.

You might also want to talk about and agree on consequences if your family’s mobile phone rules are broken – by your child, or by you.

You can guide your child towards positive mobile phone use. For example, you could encourage your child to take a photo of one nice thing that happens each day to share with you that evening, or use their phone to edit photos or learn a language.

Managing mobile phone costs

When your child first gets a mobile phone, you’ll probably need to help them learn how to manage costs so they don’t run up big bills. For example, you can:

• show your child how to check how much call, text and data allowance is left
• help your child switch off unnecessary settings that use up data, like automatic downloads
• explain that your child should use wi-fi to download content like videos, to avoid going over the data limit.

Keeping the mobile phone safe and charged

Responsible mobile phone use involves keeping the phone safe and undamaged.

You’ll need to talk with your child about how to keep a mobile phone safe – for example, your child might need a phone cover and a screen protector. A phone detector feature can be helpful in case your child loses the phone.

It’s also a good idea to agree with your child on how you’ll deal with replacing a lost or damaged mobile phone. For example, will you or your child pay?

If your child is younger – or just a bit forgetful – you might need to remind them that it’s their responsibility to keep the mobile phone charged.

Most schools have rules about mobile phones at school. Many schools require phones to be switched off so they can’t be used during class or in the playground. It’s important for your child to stick to the school’s rules about mobile phone use.

Safe and respectful mobile phone use

If your child uses their mobile phone to communicate independently with others or access the internet, it increases the risk that your child will come across content that bothers them. It also exposes your child to risks like cyberbullying, sexting, inappropriate content, and contact with strangers.

You can help protect your child from risky or inappropriate content and activities by teaching your child about internet safety.

You can also talk with your child about:

• managing safety and privacy settings on their phone – for example, checking that social media profiles are private and locking the phone with a pin
• not entering personal details like name, address or date of birth into online accounts or forms
• accepting new social media friend requests only from people they know face to face
• checking which apps use location services and switching off unnecessary ones. This can ensure that your child isn’t showing their location to nearby people that they don’t know.

Your child needs to learn about using their mobile phone to communicate in a respectful way too. This involves not creating or forwarding nasty or humiliating emails, photos or text messages. Using a phone respectfully is an important part of being a responsible digital citizen.

• The current international consensus is that mobile phones don’t cause cancer or promote the accelerated growth of existing tumours.
• Cancer can take many years, even decades, to develop. Population studies so far have only monitored the health effects following a few years of mobile phone use.
• Using a mobile phone while driving significantly increases the risk of traffic accidents. Talking on a hand-held mobile phone while driving is illegal in all states and territories of Australia.

Because mobile phone use is so widespread (it was estimated in 2011 that there were around five billion mobile phone users), public concerns about the possible health effects of mobile phones receive a lot of coverage in the media. Because so many people use mobile phones, medical researchers are concerned that any associated health risks, even small ones, could cause significant public health problems. It is important to understand the risks and possible effects of mobile phone use, and make up your own mind about how you use your mobile phone.

Health concerns over mobile phone use

Mobile phones communicate with base stations using radiofrequency (RF) radiation. If RF radiation is high enough, it has a ‘thermal’ effect, which means it raises body temperature. There are concerns that the low levels of RF radiation emitted by mobile phones could cause health problems such as headaches or brain tumours.

Research into mobile phones and health risks

Intensive international research has found no conclusive or convincing evidence that mobile phones are damaging to health in the short or long term. However, in May 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified RF radiation as ‘possibly carcinogenic for humans, based on an increased risk for glioma, a type of brain cancer’.The release of this WHO statement prompted many people to call for a 'precautionary approach' to mobile phone use. Research is ongoing.

Radiation in relation to mobile phone use

Radiation is a combination of electrical and magnetic energy that travels through space at the speed of light. It is also referred to as electromagnetic radiation (EMR).

Radiation is classified into two broad groups:

• ionising radiation (IR) – which is capable of causing changes in atoms or molecules in the body that can result in tissue damage such as cancer. Examples of IR include x-rays and gamma rays
• non-ionising radiation (NIR) – which doesn’t cause these changes, but can prompt molecules to vibrate. This can lead to rises in temperature, as well as other effects. Examples of NIR include ultraviolet radiation in sunlight, visible light, light bulbs, infrared radiation, microwave energy and radiofrequency energy.

How the mobile phone system works

The mobile phone system works like a two-way radio, and includes the individual handset and the base stations. Base station antennae are mounted high off the ground (on a tower or roof) to get the widest coverage. A mobile phone has a radio receiver and a transmitter. When you make a call, your phone uses radiofrequency (RF) radiation via its antenna to ‘talk’ to a nearby base station. Once the base station has received your signal, your call is directed through the landline phone system.

Mobile phone base stations emit relatively constant levels of RF radiation. The handsets emit levels of RF radiation that vary depending on three things:

• how long you use the phone
• how close you hold the phone to your body
• how close you are to the base station. If the link to the base station is weak, the handset increases its radiation level to compensate.

The levels of RF radiation from the handset, to which your head is exposed, are around 100 to 1,000 times more intense than exposure from base stations.

Australian mobile phone system regulations

It is estimated that the RF radiation from a mobile phone held against your ear will heat a localised area of your face and, to a lesser extent, your brain, by a fraction of a degree. This is less than the heating caused by, for example, exercise. However, high levels of RF radiation overheat body tissues and cause damage. The Australian exposure limits for RF radiation from mobile phones is set far below the level at which any meaningful heating occurs. All mobile phones in Australia must meet the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Standard RPS 3, which is enforced by the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA).

Research into mobile phones and your health

There have been many studies throughout the world on RF radiation and its effects on the body. There is a big difference between a biological effect – an effect on the body – and a health effect.For example, RF radiation from a mobile phone has the biological effect of raising the temperature in a localised area of the brain by a fraction of a degree. This biological effect doesn’t automatically carry any health risks. The human body is equipped to deal with very wide variations in temperature without experiencing harm.

Mobile phone use and cancer

Because RF radiation is a form of non-ionising radiation, it cannot cause cancer. There is no other known biological way that RF radiation could be carcinogenic.

Mobile phones and other possible health effects

While research continues into whether or not mobile phone use causes health problems apart from cancer, no negative health implications have yet been found.

Mobile phone use can also have other indirect health effects. For example:

• Electronic equipment – it is possible for RF radiation to interfere with medical electronic equipment if the equipment is vulnerable to the field. Handsets should be turned off in hospital buildings.
• Road accidents–studies show that using a mobile phone while driving greatly increases the risk of traffic accidents. Talking on a hand-held mobile phone while driving is illegal in all states and territories of Australia.

Precautions to reduce mobile phone radiation exposure

Evidence so far suggests that mobile phones aren’t harmful, but long-term risks and consequences are yet to be clarified.

If you are concerned, you can reduce your exposure to RF radiation by:

• choosing a mobile phone model that has a low specific absorption rate (SAR), which refers to the amount of RF radiation absorbed by body tissues
• using a landline phone if one is available
• keeping your mobile phone calls short
• using a hands-free kit
• not carrying your mobile phone close to your body when it is switched on
• being wary of claims that protective devices or ‘shields’ can reduce your exposure to RF radiation – there is no evidence to suggest these devices work. In fact, they can increase RF radiation, because the phone will automatically increase its RF output to combat the effects of the shield to get the best level of communication.

Where to get help

• Your doctor
• Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Tel. (03) 9433 2211
• Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) Tel. (03) 9963 6800

Things to remember

• The current international consensus is that mobile phones don’t cause cancer or promote the accelerated growth of existing tumours.
• Cancer can take many years, even decades, to develop. Population studies so far have only monitored the health effects following a few years of mobile phone use.
• Using a mobile phone while driving significantly increases the risk of traffic accidents. Talking on a hand-held mobile phone while driving is illegal in all states and territories of Australia.

• Mobile telephones and health effects, 2010, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. More information here.
• IARC classifies radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans, 2011, World Health Organization. More information here.
• Mobile phones and health 2004: Report by the Board of NRPB, 2004, Documents of the NRPB, vol. 15, no. 5, Radiation Protection Division, Health Protection Agency, UK. More information here.
• Lonn S, Ahlbom A, Hall P, et al. 2005, ‘Long-term mobile phone use and brain tumor risk’, Amer. Journal of Epidemiol. vol. 161, no. 6, pp. 526-535. More information here.
• Health issues: Do cell phones pose a health hazard? 2010, US Food and Drug Administration. More information here.
• Mobile phone radiation damages lab DNA, 2005, Nature Publishing Group. More information here.
• Monograph meeting 102: Non-ionizing radiation, part II: Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, 2011, International Agency for Research on Cancer More information here.

This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:

This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:

This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:

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