Mobile phone usage among teens and preteens has increased very rapidly in Beijing's middle schools and even in primary schools over the past three years.

Low-cost or free mobile phones with low monthly service charges and unlimited long-distance services are now saturating the marketplace.

Latest figures show that about 60 per cent of schoolchildren have their own phones, according to statistics published by Beijing Daily late last year.

For most image-conscious children, owning a mobile phone is a sign of maturity and a status symbol. For their parents, the attraction is that they can rely on them as a convenient means to stay in touch with their youngsters.

Changing schedules and family emergencies are two examples of how the phones are frequently and properly used to connect parents and children.

"I usually communicate with my child while I am in the car and ask where he is after school so that I can pick him up," said Lin Chunhui, a mother with a 10-year old boy in primary school. "It is also convenient to talk with my child about what kind of food he would like this evening or which restaurant he wants to go after school."

As a reporter with Beijing Evening News, Lin said her mobile phone has been a bridge to connect her and her child and it could also promote mutual understanding and friendship within a family.

"If my mobile phone had some GPS function, that would be just perfect!" Lin said. "I could monitor where my child is and ensure whether he is safe or not."

However, faced with increased and sometimes disruptive use of mobile phones on school premises, safety and other problems have increased among teens and preteens.

"They are taking advantage of this sophisticated equipment to cheat on tests or download restricted information from computers," said Huang Rong, dean of the No 101 Middle School in Beijing. "Among a group of 45 students, 35 children have mobile phones. The phones of the remaining 10 students were taken away by their parents."

Some young students have been using their mobile phone cameras to photograph their peers and then put photos over the Internet, according to Huang.

Indecent pictures, decadent music, sex text messages are also circulated by mobile phones among some children. Furthermore, cheating on exams is popular among teens through mobile phones.

At the same time, unauthorised use or robbery of phones may occur in school. And both sides involved are students.

Another potential safety problem exists in that almost no students are unaware of the potential radiation hazards emitted from cell phones.

Smaller cell phones are very popular among teens and preteens because they think the smaller the phone, the cooler it is.

But experts said that the smaller the phone is, the more power needs to be transmitted. Therefore, the more power, the more radiation exposure.

Most schools in Beijing have formulated policies in their student handbooks to guide the use of mobile phones.

However, schools can only guide students when they are in school. For the rest of the time, mobile phones are still a frequently-used high-tech toy among teens.

(China Daily 08/19/2005 page5)