Gimmicks such as coloured covers and icon-based messages such as teddy bears, smiley faces and broken hearts have proved popular with children. And in the not so distant future mobile phones look destined to be linked to the Internet. No parent likes to imagine their child stranded if a bus does not turn up or a promised lift does not materialise. A mobile also allows children to speak to their friends while keeping the family's main phone free. But there could be serious drawbacks to letting your child loose with a mobile phone, however much you trust them to use it sensibly.
Scientists are already concerned about the possible health risks for children.
Dr Gerard Hyland, a physicist from the University of Warwick, is among those who believe that it could be potentially very dangerous for young children to use mobile phones. There is a certain frequency pattern in the emission that the brain happens to recognise. In children below the age of 12 the stability of the brain could be undermined and disrupted because their brain is in a more vulnerable state. At the moment there is no evidence but the worry is that the problems could take time to manifest themselves. The other problem is that a child's head absorbs the maximum amount of radiation because of its smaller size and this could potentially be very damaging.