Mobile phones no guarantee of teen safety

Parents are being seduced into believing their kids are safe because they carry a mobile phone, psychologists say.

While mobiles served as a convenient tool for communication between parents and teenagers, they should not be relied on as a security device, the Australian Psychological Society said.

A survey conducted by the society found most teenagers used their phones responsibly, but parents still had a hard time tracking their children.

And more than a third of teenagers said they sometimes could not contact their parents because their pre-paid phone had run out of credit.