Students emboldened by a cell phone while walking alone at night may reconsider after a recent study that found that opportunities for victimization increase while on a cell phone.

According to an Ohio State University study, 48 percent of college women and 29 percent of college men reported feeling safer walking alone at night and taking paths they normally wouldn't as long as they have a cell phone on hand.

However, Samantha Bernecker (sophomore-psychology) said having her phone doesn't make her feel safer. "It never even occurred to me that having my cell phone could make me safer," Bernecker said.

The principle researchers in the study concluded that talking on cell phones left many students susceptible to crime because they are distracted, may have a slower reaction time to unexpected events and often take darker, more scarcely populated routes. The report also found that women were more likely to feel safer than men with their cell phones and reported taking riskier routes than men.

Ashley Glowinski (senior-public relations) said students should be aware of their surroundings and take more common paths that makes you safer.

"I tend to take more lit routes rather than riskier ones at night, regardless if I have my cell phone or not," she said. "I could see how many other students may feel safer with cell phones -- there's many features like dialing 911 with no battery -- but there's no way you can do that while being attacked. I listen more to my instincts before I take a paths that I am uncertain of ... "

Penn State offers a walking escort service that provides uniformed student employees who can be called any time from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to accompany anyone from any on-campus location to any reasonable off-campus location. "We don't recommend that anyone walk alone after dark because of safety issues," said Diane Grimm, an auxiliary police coordinator. But some students think even these safety measures might not be enough if a student is already in trouble. "You don't have time to call for help if you're in trouble," said

Kyle Neibich (junior-information sciences and technology). "People may feel safer because they have their phones as fallback, and it's convenient, but I don't see how it could help the situation."