Saturday, 15 August 2009 Mobile phones are training children to act impulsively and make

more mistakes, according to new research. A study of 317 Melbourne high school students
found frequent mobile phone users were faster to respond in a series of tests but also made
more errors.

The children, aged between 11 and 14, from 20 schools were given tests to measure their
speed, accuracy, memory and ability to learn through association.

Those who made 15 to 20 calls or texts per week were more likely to respond quickly before
they knew the correct answer.

The research, headed by Monash University epidemiologist Professor Michael Abramson,

found predictive texting, in particular, was changing the way children's brains worked by
teaching them to act before thinking through a response.

Radiation associated with mobile phones, a long-held health fear, did not appear to be to
blame for the higher rates of inaccuracy in frequent phone users.

Monash University researcher Geza Benke said children who were heavy texters, and were
exposed to low levels of radiation, had similar test results as those who made a lot of phone
calls and were in closer contact with handsets.

"There's a couple of hypotheses you can generate from this - one is that it's possible that the
use of mobile phones is training kids to do this," Dr Benke said.

"Another possibility is that it just so happens that kids who are fast and don't worry too much
about the errors they make tend to be the ones who also are using the phone technology more
because that suits them.

Dr Benke, a father of six, said the researchers believed it was most likely that mobile phone
use was changing children's behaviour but that the study shouldn't alarm parents.

"I think there are already so many other things out there that affects kids' brains that I
wouldn't worry about the mobiles," he said.

"I think there's nothing here that would show great concern from a public health point of
view."

Nearly a quarter of Australian children aged between six and 13 own a mobile phone. (Digital
Life)

Text-addict kids 'make more mistakes