In recent years, the use of mobile telephones in Britain has grown exponentially.
Currently there are over fourteen million mobile subscribers in Britain with a further
ninety thousand users joining a network each week. It is estimated that there will be
thirty million mobile telephone users in Britain by 2001. This tremendous growth has
brought with it both those who see the mobile telephone as essential to modern life
and those who see the cellular phone as a very real threat to public health.

For many people the mobile telephone is indispensable: it allows the user easy and direct access to colleagues and customer, as well as friends, at any time of the day and in any place. In some professions such as emergency medicine, the mobile telephone can be critical in contacting specialists for emergency treatments. Similarly, in the business sector the mobile telephone is often indispensable in keeping professionals in touch with developments.

The cellular telephone is often seen as a status symbol. For the young it is
considered fashionable to own a mobile telephone. Three percent of all new subscribers are under sixteen years of age. According to recent studies, the telephone is crucial in giving young men a self of self-confidence in company.

A positive application of mobile telephone technology is their increasing use
by the vulnerable as a personal protection system. Police opinion supports the
provision of cellular telephones to vulnerable women. The increasing issuing of mobile telephones to children by their parents is undoubtedly a response to growing
safety fears.

Medical opinion on mobile telephones is divided. Some investigations into
mobile telephones have found that the slight heating which mobiles cause has a
positive effect on mental faculties, often increasing reaction times.

This slight heating of the brain is for many opponents of cellular phone use
their main objection. The repeated exposure to microwave radiation from telephones and the cumulative effect of this radiation may, it is feared lead to illness and possibly

cancer.

Medical studies have shown that mobile telephones may raise blood pressure
in the user due to the magnetic fields they produce.

Those specialising in child medicine are particularly concerned as the
prolonged use of the mobile telephone by young people may lead to an alarming
exposure to radiation. Mobile telephones are known to cause dizzy spells and fatigue
in many users. Half of mobile phone users express strong worries about the effects
their telephone is having on their health.

The use of cellular telephones by the young has led to many schools banning
them: inopportune ringing can disturb classes.

The increasing number of cases where a mobile telephone has been used to
contact emergency services about an accident seems to support their continuing use.
However, the number of accidents reported on mobile telephones which are in fact
less serious than feared has led to the misuse of the emergency services.

The use of the mobile telephone in the car can have a dangerous effect on
traffic flow. Cyclists have expressed a growing fear for their personal safety on the
roads as more and more motorists take telephone calls in traffic.

The cellular telephone can lead to tension on public transport as the number of telephone calls made in public places increase. The connotations of pretence the
mobile telephone presents may lead to violence on crowded trains and buses.

With almost half the population now using cellular telephones and the
numbers growing daily it seems impossible that the concerns many hold over mobile
telephones will not be confronted in the near future. Government policy is currently
undecided until the National Radiological Protection Board submits its reports on the
issue. Increasing concerns have led to the growing use of earpiece technology and
radiation prevention equipment. The spiralling use of cellular technology and the new
applications open to these systems mean that the use of mobile telephones will be a
question facing society well into the twenty first century.

PRELIM 2000 HIGHER ENGLISH REPORT

INTRODUCTION

phone enables people to talk at a distance

part of network of communications

huge number of people own them

large and increasing no. of children own them

price has dropped

BENEFITS

range increased by invention of cellphone

person can be contacted anywhere/any time.

person does not need to be beside set to be contacted

helps rescue groups to contact emergencies

may help brain to function better

SOME men believe it gives them an impression of being wealthy/powerful *

used by parents for reassurance

can be used by women who fear assault to summon help

PROBLEMS

effects on health from radiation

particular effect on children, because their exposure is longer

reduces effectiveness of immune system

lessons interrupted by calls

blood pressure may increase

drivers distracted by use of phone

irritation for other members of public, who are distracted by phones

emergency services called out unnecessarily

people may give believe that they are giving an impression of being wealthy etc.*

REACTIONS

phones banned in schools

according to government sources, public need not worry

tabloids are exaggerating dangers

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

more scientific research necessary

unnecessary legislation should not be introduced in future

likely yet more people will own mobiles.

Use of ear pieces may increase safety

STRENGTHS

structure mostly sound

most items correctly placed

WEAKNESSES

reorganisation within paragraph, lack of synthesis, omissions.

lack of linkage, especially failing to show relative importance of ideas