Brits start 'em young with 20% of tots 'owning' a smartphone
- Reference: 1681732805
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/17/uk_toddler_phone_ownership/
- Source link:
Each year, the country's comms watchdog releases research on "the ability to use, understand and create media and communications in a variety of contexts" among kids aged three to 17.
Since some adults are incapable of moderating their internet and technology usage, it is easy to accept that the children of the Terrible Twenties have never been so switched on and connected.
[1]
Much of the [2]report [PDF] is to be expected – 97 percent used the internet in 2022, 74 percent have access to a tablet, 67 percent to a laptop, 77 percent to a games console, 56 percent to a smart speaker, and 51 percent to a desktop computer.
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About nine in 10 (89 percent) played video games – 25 percent on a computer, 43 percent on a tablet, 49 percent on mobile, and 59 percent on a console.
The way youngsters consume television is transforming as well, with live broadcast viewing falling by 20 percent for four to 15-year-olds from 4.5 hours a week in 2021 to little more than 3.5 hours a week in 2022. But when the top billing on a Sunday night is Antiques Roadshow , anyone can be forgiven for seeing what's available on Netflix et al.
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Where kids get their kicks now is mostly on YouTube and TikTok, which Ofcom described as "near-universal" at 96 percent, and this folds into some surprising findings with regard to mobile phone ownership.
Smartphones (69 percent) and tablets (64 percent) were the most used devices for three to 17-year-olds going online. Kids in the upper bracket (12-17) were more likely to use phones for this purpose, while 3-11s were mostly on a tablet.
However, according to Ofcom: "Ownership of mobile phones increases gradually up to age 8, when the rate of ownership accelerates to levels that are near-universal among children aged 12 and remains so into adulthood. This acceleration coincides with the move for many children from primary to secondary school."
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So how many three-year-olds actually "own" a mobile phone? Ofcom pegs this at 20 percent, and by the time they are 12 it's something like 97 percent, hitting 99 percent by age 17.
Now, before we start clutching pearls, these phones are most likely hand-me-downs from parents or siblings who have upgraded, and lack a SIM to be used simply as a smaller tablet for the consumption of video over the internet.
What are they doing with them? YouTube – including YouTube Kids – was used by 88 percent of three to 17-year-olds in 2022, and as a daily YouTube consumer and proud parent of two young boys (three and six), your correspondent believes this to be accurate.
[7]UK data watchdog fines TikTok £12.7M for failing to protect kids
[8]Utah outlaws kids' social media addiction, sets digital curfew
[9]Find My Kids app is basically AirTags for your offspring
[10]Walmart runs creepy 'advergame' on Roblox, where kids can make toy wish lists
Usage figures for other apps were lower as only older children would get the most out of them: WhatsApp was at 55 percent, TikTok 53 percent, Snapchat 46 percent, Instagram 41 percent, and lame old people's Facebook was at 34 percent. It should be noted, however, that children far too young for TikTok are still using it – something the platform was [11]fined £12.7 million ($15.78 million) for by the Information Commissioner's Office.
Comment
While one in five tots owning a smartphone might raise eyebrows, platforms like YouTube aren't always the brain-rotting dross we think they are.
Articles pop up yearly about how content inappropriate for children is [12]slipping through filters , but my own experience of allowing my kids to use the internet has been overwhelmingly positive.
I have found the majority of videos served via YouTube's specialized "Kids" version have been either genuinely educational or at the very least sparked inquisitiveness on a variety of topics.
Like AumSum Time, which presents a number of stupidly impossible scenarios such as "what if our Sun turned into a black hole?" While this initially scared my three-year-old, it gave me the opportunity to explain that the Sun could never turn into a black hole because it's not nearly massive enough. Which led to a number of conversations about how far the nearest black hole is, which led to an explanation of light-years, and what makes one supermassive. He can name all planets in the solar system including dwarfs and some moons too.
Just having a phone on me at bedtime can be educational too. For instance, on seeing a dodo in a book saying, "I'm not supposed to be here," they asked what it is, and I was able to show pictures and offer facts about the dodo and why it isn't around anymore. These are major wins in my opinion – having the entirety of human knowledge in one's pocket can and should be used for good.
But supervision is important, something Ofcom's report touches on too, saying that 65 percent of parents sat beside their three to four-year-old children, watching or helping them. My two only watch on the TV, which means we can always see or hear what they are doing. Still, I can recall only one instance when I blacklisted something (a video singing "Planet Earth is falling down" because of COVID-19). Everything else was fairly benign.
But no, they do not own a phone or tablet, and will not until it's absolutely impossible to avoid. ®
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[2] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/255852/childrens-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2023.pdf
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/uk_watchdog_fines_tiktok/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/utah_social_media_laws/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/09/find_my_kids_apple_watch/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/25/walmarts_advergame_on_roblox_pushes/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/uk_watchdog_fines_tiktok/
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/business/media/youtube-kids-paw-patrol.html
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "by the time they are 12 it's something like 97 percent"
I bought my kid a cell phone when she was about to start at school so that she could talk with her friends. When I was her age I had to dial on the phone in the hallway at home - so we were both happy now that she could just talk sitting on the sofa while they both watched Dr. Who.
Re: "by the time they are 12 it's something like 97 percent"
It seems to me that trying to learn online coursework through the medium of a 5"-5.5" screen would be about as successful as trying to eat a plate of fish and chips by sucking it through a straw, and schools really should know that instead of jumping on the bandwagon.
Prior to the Internet, the telly box was the babysitter for a lot of kids, the delivery method has just changed.
What really is the problem, is adults having kids and then paying no attention to them or doing anything with them at all because they are glued to their phones. I've been guilty of this.
Then there's 'sharenting' where a poor kids whole life ends up on social media with little or no concern for their privacy. This is particularly damaging when they grow to being adults which many from the first generation to suffer this now are.
The memories that should be cemented in your mind are absent, because you were staring at them through a screen passively rather than being engaged with the live situation. And it's too late to get them back.
The glass eyed babysitter in the corner, back then, at least had to follow some sort of standards. Social media doesn't, so what lessons are young kids learning? Probably not how to count to four in Spanish and beware of angry female pigs.
I disagree. I have vivid memories of watching CITV, then going to Home & Away, then the international news would come on at 6pm telling you how close India and Pakistan were to nuclear war.
All of this pre-watershed. Just because you don't see the blood doesn't mean the idea is just as scary.
I agree. What the piles of skulls in Cambodia and the discovery of the body of Lesley Whittle did to my prepubescent mind is quite literally the stuff of nightmares.
But real news, properly presented, is a far cry from unregulated inanity. My earliest memory of similar would probably be the John Craven's Newsround coverage of a famine in Bangladesh in the 70's. Pretty harrowing stuff, but still important to know about, even at that age.
(Edit: But yes, there are limits of course. Truly evil stuff can't easily just be "talked through".)
I suspect that is where I went wrong: rather than being wary of angry female pigs, I took Miss Piggy as aspirational lifestyle advice. An influencer before her time.
" Where kids get their kicks now is mostly on YouTube and TikTok "
Indoctrinate them while they're impressionable...
Remove all notion of privacy from them while they're impressionable...
FTFY
"these phones are most likely hand-me-downs from parents or siblings who have upgraded, and lack a SIM to be used simply as a smaller tablet"
I think it's safe to say that if the device has a SIM slot, it'll almost certanly have an active SIM in it, given the cost is effectivly zero and the networks send you multiple free ones if you even glance at their websites.
Even if just so it can be rung to find it, when lost behind the sofa.
3.5 hours a week of broadcast TV?
I don't think we consume that much a month as a household, let alone any individual. (and that's very concentrated into events like the six nations)
my kid watches youtube (traditional kids tv shows anyway; mr tumble, button moon and postman pat rather than some quick-cuts attention-sapping 3d animation like cocomelon which is outright banned), but it's on the TV with us in the room too being made to watch it and limit the screentime. Used that way the same rules of TV usage apply
Phone-wise she's happy with a 2g flip-phone that lives in her bag until she actually needs to call us for a lift tor something. We've never sat with our faces in our phones around her growing up so it's not something that was normalised behaviour
You might want to reconsider your overshare, Richard
Sharing details about your own kids and putting forth your opinions about how you justify your decisions makes them fair game for discussion, since you started the discussion yourself with the premise 'This is what I do as a parent and why I say it's a good/fine thing.'
I will refrain from making any commentary thereof beyond that meta-level, but you should consider what you're putting out there and be ready for contrary or negative opinions of your parenting, since you yourself made it fair game for discussion. I'd recommend you get on your flame-proof jumpsuit. :)
Re: You might want to reconsider your overshare, Richard
Can't get flamed if you don't read the comments
Re: You might want to reconsider your overshare, Richard
Anyway, there's no flaming on this site, because we're all mature sensible adults here.
(Bumwillytitpoopants)
Nope
You're a braver parent than I if you install YouTube Kids and trust Google's algorithm to select kid-friendly videos for your offspring, as if Elsagate had never happened (and still isn't happening).
Re: Nope
"as if Elsagate had never happened (and still isn't happening)"
I can't understand why Elsagate style accounts aren't Frozen.
I'll get my coat.
Thumbs Up...
...for the final comment. I've also found that feeding and guiding kids' curiosity works much better than blanket bans
>>>> He can name all planets in the solar system including dwarfs and some moons too.
Yup Doc, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful and Sneezy
I was going to make some comment about a planet beginning with U in connection with moons but I couldn't think of an appropriate one.
Tablet ownership isn't the worst thing in the world. I can't speak for Android ecosystem, but the Apple one allows a device to be locked down to completely reject internet in any capacity, to enforce the parent to approve apps and for screen time. Granularity allows full whitelist-only capabilities and when paired with Netflix/iPlayer with age restrictions, educational apps, age-restricted native podcasts, Spotify (explicit locked) and an app-connected early-start bank card, can definitely prove net positive.
As a vintage gaming hobbyist, my 7yo regularly gets targeted exposure and is currently working her way through Portal 2. Are some of the contents 100% suitable or easy to understand at that age: probably not. The net positive however is discussion (and a working understanding) of some degree level physics, recognition of the ultimate importance of maths, discussion on time-travel, excellent hand-eye coordination and a massive push to complex problem solving.
It's hard given the consistent message of "screen time bad" that still persists from the early-90's but when a child of her age is able to use their self-directed learning to go challenge the signs and volunteers at a National Trust property, is pushed to read-at-speed (hidden in many of her games) until they're reading two or so "key-stages" above their age or is happily explaining how light cheats in races or Laminar Flow to an elderly relative, I feel the benefits are clear to see.
Don't give in to them until it's necessary!
Kids learn and adapt way, way faster than adults, they'll catch up 'cos kids don't over think stuff.
We started our daughter off with an MP3 player when she was about 7, she didn't get a phone until she was about 10 years old just before she started secondary school. We had a tablet available for very long car journeys but only for those very long journeys, most of the time we'd all listen the same music and just talk in the car, we'd always get out at places walk around or just sit in the car and stare are the rain! It was nice as we always talk, all three of us can sit anywhere and any time and just have a conversation as a family, something both my wife and I desperately miss now our daughter's away at uni.
My wife and I are both tech nuts, we're both gamers and my wife even does the PC and tech support for the family and she asks me if she onlhy uses me as backline support. My daughter's boyfriend is studying cybercrime and development at uni, so she's surrounded by techies. However with all this tech the upshot of all is that my daughter has very little interest in technology, to her it's just a bunch of tools to get stuff done and she can call on 3 people for help! She has a phone and a laptop she uses at uni, I made sure it was a macbook with Applecare as we don't need to be doing remote support 250 miles away.
Kids don't care about tech, it's just tools to them, nothing special and they can easily adapt when they need to and they know how to ask for help without worrying about looking daft.
"by the time they are 12 it's something like 97 percent"
Hardly surprising. My kids' secondary school "encouraged" all parents to make sure their kids all had a smartphone - Partly for some of the on-line aspects of the coursework and also for "safety" reasons e.g. So that they could always contact someone in a real emergency, never get lost, that kind of thing (sigh).
That said, they were also never allowed to actually use them in school unless specifically instructed, which almost never happened.