Medical Breakthrough
Researchers in Finland have shed new light on one of the deepest public health mysteries of the modern world: They found no connection between a decline in teenage smoking and the rise in mobile phone use. They say smoking rates actually increase in proportion to the use of mobile phones, which contradicts an earlier study.
"A high proportion of Finnish adolescents use mobile phones, but their use is associated with health-endangering lifestyles indicated by smoking," said researcher Leena Koivusilta.
"Often adolescents both smoke and use mobile phones, and this association remains when the amount of weekly spending money is taken into account," she added.
The researchers concluded that there was a need for research into the symbolic role of mobile phones and smoking in modern adolescent cultures.
How many kids have to die before we finally devote the necessary resources for that study?
