Physical and emotional health risks

The dangers The radiation emitted by mobile phones There is some evidence that exposure to pornography and the excessive use of video games can cause emotional harm

Radiation emitted by mobile phones There is growing evidence that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer Cancers can take at least a decade develop

Radiation emitted by mobile phones Early in 2008 the French government warned against the use of mobile phones especially by children Germany also advises its people to minimise handset use

Radiation emitted by mobile phones A recent review of more than a hundred studies on the effects of mobile phones by top neurosurgeon Professor Khurana lead him to conclude: “… there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours.”

Children more at risk? Research published by the Independent Experts Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) suggests that children may be more vulnerable to health risks from mobile phone use because their nervous systems are still developing It bases this statement on the fact that children have smaller heads, thinner skulls, and higher tissue conductivity than adults - this means that they may absorb more energy from a mobile phone than adults

Exposure to sexual images Young people are being exposed to a constant barrage of sexually charged images from: Social networking profiles Websites Conventional media

Exposure to sexual images The more often a person is exposed to these things, the more normal it seems and the more desensitised they become These things can have an enormous impact on a child’s self-esteem and potentially his or her future

Problems associated with the exposure to pornography Research has been done which indicates that the widespread availability of pornography increases the threat of children becoming victims of sexual violence There is also said to be a link between pornography and incidents of rape and sexual violence - furthermore, there is evidence of a link between pornography and child molestation

Problems associated with the exposure to pornography Research has been conducted which reports that widespread exposure to pornography for children: frequently results in unplanned pregnancies, sexual illnesses and sexual addiction later in life may incite children to play out sexual acts against other children shapes attitudes and values interferes with a child's development and identity

Emotional effects of video games The time spent playing videogames can result in a lost opportunity to get involved in other forms of development and socialisation and this can obviously have serious long-term implications

Emotional effects of video games There is some evidence of short-term aggression from playing violent videogames but no studies of whether this leads to long-term effects

Emotional effects of video games Potential risks to children from playing some games are: Arousal brought on by some games can generate stress-like symptoms in children Games are more likely to affect perceptions and expectations of the real world amongst younger children because of their less developed ability to distinguish between fact and fiction The interactive nature of games may also have more profound effects than other forms of media, especially on children up to the age of 12, who tend to use narratives to develop their values and ideas and who tend to learn through doing things