Abstract:
This paper considers the forms and extents of the impacts that mobile phones are reported as
having on young people’s lives, and the ways in which young people as media users are
contributing these impacts. It examines how these representations of mobile use influence
policy at national, local and informal levels by governments, schools and families. It asks:
How are children and young people affecting, and affected by, the development and
popularity of mobile information communications technologies? What are the social impacts
on young lives? How have media policy and regulatory environments adapted to the changes
in children’s lives that have been brought about through their adoption of mobile technologies
and applications? What implications are there for policy makers, commercial operators, child
advocates and others?1
