As families across the country prepare for the upcoming school year, new research by Telstra has revealed parental concerns about safety (62 per cent) and the need to keep in touch (34 per cent) were the main reasons parents purchase mobile phones for their children. Today's generation of schoolkids live in a 21st century wired world, where technology - from mobile phones to broadband internet - is just as much a part of their daily lives as pens and pencils. Telstra, January 2010.