Finland tells parents to monitor childrens' mobile use

Rather like the findings of the UK's Stewart Report, ­Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) says there's no evidence that mobile phones are dangerous to health but tells parents to restrict children's mobile phone use until all the effects are known. It suggests sending text messages instead of making voice calls and says children should be taught to use hands-free devices. [Sources: Finland.fi; stuk.fi (Finnish)]

Hospitals should reconsider mobile phone bans

New guidelines from the Department of Health say hospitals in England should consider allowing mobile phones to be used in hospitals wherever it doesn't interfere with equipment, affect privacy or cause a nuisance. They also say that mobile phone use should continue to be restricted in areas where critical care equipment susceptible to electro magnetic interference is used. [Press release]

The Key to Safe Driving?

Sounding rather similar to the Aegis Mobility service, Key2SafeDriving is a wireless device designed by the University of Utah that does its best to stop young people from driving while using their mobile phone. The Key2SafeDriving (k2sd) device holds the ignition key and puts the driver's phone into 'Driving Mode' when the key is released for use. This causes the phone to display a 'Stop' message and also prevents the phone from ringing when someone calls. [Press release via Media-Newswire.com]

Name-calling for textlemmings

Here's the perfect antidote for our previous story. Professor Peter Norton from the University of Virginia says mobile phone users who walk into traffic while texting need to be given a derogatory name. He says it worked to dissuade jaywalkers - a term that entered the dictionary just ten years after it was devised - and wonders whether ‘textlemmings’ would work. [Source: Cellular-News.com]

itsmy.com mobile users need help on the street

Publicity-seeking mobile social networking site itsmy.com says it wants to protect its users on the street - and it's therefore submitted the concept for a new "Watch out I'm an itsmy.com user not paying attention" road sign to the European Union. It says a survey of its users revealed that 64% had already bumped into someone else or fallen over something while surfing the mobile internet and walking. Of course, the signs will need to be fixed above head height... [Press release]

Making Sense of Radiation

The London-based Sense About Science charity has published a guide called 'Making Sense of Radiation', which offers guidance for people concerned about radiation from mobiles, WiFi and radio masts. It's particularly critical of speculative stories and unnecessary 'protective' products. [Sources: Guardian.co.uk; Sense About Science statement; PDF report]

Lamp-posts get padding to protect texters

Spot the publicity stunt. Lamp-posts in London's Brick Lane have been padded to protect mobile phone users from 'walking and texting' injuries. The experiment has been arranged by the Living Streets charity after research by directory enquiries company 118 118 found that 10% of us had hurt ourselves while looking at a mobile phone screen. [Sources: ITN.co.uk, Engadget.com, Cellular-News.com]