New Delhi, Nov 2: Give your teenager the mobile phone he's been pesteringyou for. A new British study finds that it might do the teenager good, sinceit just might keep them away from the dreaded addiction of cigarettes. Astudy presented in this week's British Medical Journal (BMJ) argues thatmobile phones may be competing successfully with cigarettes to meet certainimportant teenage needs.Anne Charlton, an emeritus professor at the School of Epidemiology andHealth Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK says in the BMJthat ``the mobile phone is an effective competitor to cigarettes in themarket for products that offer teenagers adult style''. Today, a handheldchat machine is owned by most upwardly mobile youngsters. The tobaccocompanies are also targeting this same crowd. And if the results of theBritish study hold true for India, one just might see the Indian teenageraggressively exercising his choice towards the mobile phone.The study finds that smoking among 15 year-olds fell from 30 per cent to 23per cent between 1996 and 1999 in Britain, while mobile phone ownershipamong 15-17 year-olds rose from low levels in 1996 to 70 per cent by August2000. The researchers argue that these trends are related because someteenagers may just not be able to afford paying for both the cash card onthe phone and the costly cigarettes. They say mobile phones are the newticket to adulthood among teenagers.Moreover, the mobile phone satisfies the same teenage needs as does smokingby offering a seemingly matured independent life style, individuality,sociability, rebellion, and peer group bonding and adult aspiration. Themobile phone will not only help parents keep track of their teenagers whilethey are on their prowls, but may also keep them away from smoking. Theresearchers also suggest that for teenagers, smoking may soon be seen as``old technology'', with the `bright new world of text messaging, email andWAP' becoming the new aspirational gateway to adult life. The `mine is smaller than your's' electronic gadget may just go a longerway in keeping teenagers from smoking than the fine print hardly legiblestatutory warning printed on cigarette packs.
