Mobile phones reduce teen smoking

Your teen want a cell phone but you’re against the idea of them text messaging all day? You may want to rethink that stance as a phone could be good for their health. Japanese officials report that kids are laying off smoking because they can’t afford cigarettes AND their mobile phone bill:

There is “a high chance phone bills are weighing on the money they spend on cigarettes”, said Kenji Hayashi, the head of research at the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry. A survey of 103,500 high school students found the rate of smoking among boys aged 17 and 18 had fallen to 22 per cent last year compared with 37 per cent in two earlier surveys in 1996 and 2000.

With a carton of butts going for $30, we’re not sure how anyone affords to smoke on a regular basis.

[Via TechDirt]