A recent study shows: Mobile phones are both a safety factor and conflict potential within a family

Almost every Austrian owns a mobile phone - some have even two. (Source: RTR Kommunikationsbericht 2008; penetration of the market of 129 %). In addition to that, more and more children get supplied with a mobile phone by their parents.

Mobile phone facilitate the communication within a family and among friends, they provide safety in case of an emergency and offer a wide variety of useful features – ranging from internet access to digital cameras. There is also a conflict potential in the daily lives coming with it, as the study "Parents, children and the mobile phone in a familial area of tension" shows. The study was commissioned by Handywissen.at and executed by meinungsraum.at. In July of 2009, 500 parents were questioned nationwide.

Main reasons for the purchase of a mobile phone: "reachability" and "being able to get help in case of an emergency"
In Austria, children get their first mobile phone at an average age of 10. The prevailing reasons are the constant reachability of the child, and, on the other hand, the possibility to get help in case of an emergency (each 78%). In third place, with 24%, is the wish of the child to own a mobile phone.

Conflicting usage: Mobile phones in the area of tension between reachability and amount of the phone bill
A mobile phone facilitates the communication between parents and children. Like this, the daily routine is much easier organizable and the constant reachability offers security. Although it may also cause problems: the study shows that for 45% of the parents the mobile phone has been cause of disputes between them and their children. The reasons for the disputes are mainly a phone bill that is too high, talking on the phone at unwanted times of the day and the constant "playing around" on the phone of the children.

Trusting parents: More than 25% of the children don't have a cost limit
Even though the amount of the phone bill is the main cause for disputes, 28,2 % of the parents don't have declared a fixed maximum amount of costs to their children. In case of a fixed amount, parents are very strict - 65% of these parents make the children pay the exceeding amount from their pocket money, 44% count on talking it out with the children, and 15% ban the use of the mobile phone completely.

Main risks from the view of the parents: Theft and exceeding costs
For the parents, the biggest risks are theft (55%) and high costs (48%). In third place is the uncontrollable exchange of videos with violent or pornographic content (46%) closely followed by the risk of being harassed (43%). The fact that internet access is difficult to control is a risk for 41% of the parents.

Handling of the mobile phone: not enough clarification within the family
98% of the parents see it as their duty, to educate their children about a responsible handling of their mobile phones. The more surprising it is, that there is too little talk about mobile phone handling in Austrian families - more than a third of the parents (35%) think it is perfectly alright to check the content of their children's phones (like pictures, texts or videos) without their knowledge. About 25% already acted accordingly.

Tips for parents and teachers - counselling for children
At www.handywissen.at, parents and teachers can find tips, brochures and teaching material about responsible handling of mobile phones. In addition to that, the initiative offers workshops for schools that can be booked online.
The team from "147 Rat auf Draht" is available for children around the clock free of charge at the phone number 147.