Millions of teenagers are in danger of putting their health at risk by getting hooked on e-cigarettes, experts warn. Leading health researchers say they are “very concerned” by the growing number of youngsters trying the devices.

E­-cigarettes have been marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking conventional cigarettes. But previous research shows e-­cigarettes generate poisonous chemicals similar to those found in tobacco and may harm the lungs and immune system.

Worryingly, researchers at Liverpool University discovered 16% of teenagers who have used e-­cigarettes had never previously smoked. The experts also found e­-cigarettes were “strongly related” to drinking among teenagers. Study author Prof. Mark Bellis said, “Our research suggests that we should be very concerned about teenagers accessing e-­cigarettes. While debate on e-­cigarettes has focused largely on whether or not they act as a gateway to tobacco cigarette use, e-­cigarettes themselves contain a highly addictive drug that may have more serious and longer lasting impacts on children because their brains are still developing.”

Researchers surveyed 16,000 students aged 14 to 17 in the North West of England and asked them about their alcohol and tobacco use. They found that one in five answered yes to the question: “Have you ever bought or tried electronic cigarettes?” More males than females said they had.

Of the teenagers that had accessed e­-cigarettes, 16% had never smoked, 23% had tried smoking, 12% only smoked when drinking, and 14% were ex-­smokers. The research also found teenagers who drank alcohol were significantly more likely to have accessed e-­cigarettes than non­-drinkers.

Among those who had never smoked, it was found that those who regularly have excessive (过多的) drinking were four times more likely to access e­-cigarettes than those who never drink. In all of those that drink, regardless of smoking status, e-­cigarette access was associated with excessive drinking and involvement with violence after drinking. The researchers said their findings suggest that teenagers who use e-­cigarettes are most susceptible to other forms of substance use and risk-­taking behaviors.

A hospital has been forced to ban Pokemon Go players from the site after a monster hub(妖怪枢纽站) was found in the A&E department. Royal Stoke University Hospital discovered that its casualty unit(急诊室) is on the same spot as a Pokemon Go ‘gym’ —— where players can train their newly caught Nintendo creatures.

The University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust agreed last week that patients can play Pokemon Go on wards because walking around is healthy. But the Trust has been forced to post a warning on its website about public access to A&E. It said if Pokemon Go becomes a major annoyance it would ask Nintendo—— which decides on the locations of the virtual gyms according to GPS——to have it removed from the premises(道馆).

Kevin Parker, associate chief nurse, said, “Members of the public who do not need to be at Royal Stoke should not attempt to enter A&E or any other part of the hospital building to play the game. The A&E department is incredibly busy this summer. We want the public to understand that anybody who visits the hospital solely to play the game will provide an unwanted distraction to the important work of the hospital. I’m also aware of various reports in the media of unsafe areas that the game has been played in.”

“Royal Stoke University Hospital is a safe area where gamers can enjoy Pokemon Go.” Michelle Harris, the Trust’s manager, said the game could still be played by those already in hospital. “We recognize that the Pokemon Go game encourages walking and exercise, which is something that the Trust is equally keen to promote,” she said.

There are a number of “walking routes” established throughout the Trust that can be used to combine walking and playing the game. “Walking just 30 minutes, five times a week, can help reduce the risk of preventable illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”

There have been several warnings about the game since its UK release. Last week a group of teenagers in Wiltshire were left stranded almost 100ft underground after they got carried away searching for Pokemon Go characters. The four boys, aged 16 and 17, ended up getting lost and had to wait to get a phone signal before they could call for help. Eventually, they contacted Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue team, who took them to safety. Damien Bence, of the fire and rescue team, said: “Pokemon Go is obviously leading people into dangerous situations.”

Technology seems to discourage slow, immersive reading. Reading on a screen, particularly a phone screen, tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. So online writing tends to be more skimmable and list-like than print.

We shouldn’t overplay this danger. All readers skim. Skimming is the skill we acquire as children as we learn to read more skillfully. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans, the length of time we spend concentrating on reading. So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. “Quite a few critics have been worried about attention span lately and see very short stories as signs of cultural decline,” the American author Selvin Brown wrote. “No one ever said that poems were evidence of short attention spans.”

And yet the Internet has certainly changed the way we read. For a start, it means that there is more to read, because more people than ever are writing. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. An online article starts forming a comment string underneath as soon as it is published. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people’s words as something to be quickly harvested as fodder to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, desperate to be heard.

Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a social good and source of personal achievement. But this advocacy often emphasizes “enthusiastic”, “passionate” or   “eager” reading, none of which adjectives suggest slow, quiet absorption.

To a slow reader, a piece of writing can only be fully understood by immersing oneself in the words and their slow comprehension of a line of thought. The slow reader is like a swimmer who stops counting the number of pool laps he has done and just enjoy s how his body feels and moves in water.

The human need for this kind of deep reading is too tenacious for any new technology to destroy. We often assume that technological change can’t be stopped and happens in one direction, so that older media like “dead-tree” books are kicked out by newer, more virtual forms. In practice, older technologies can coexist with new ones. The Kindle and the iPad have not killed off the printed book any more than the car killed off the bicycle. We still want to enjoy slowly-formed ideas and carefully-chosen words. Even in a fast-moving age, there is time for slow reading.