The 2020 Childwise Monitor finds that mobile phones are now more favourable with children than tablet computers.
The annual report, which looks into the media consumption, purchasing and social habits of children aged five- to 16, reveals that the majority of children have their own phone by age seven. More than 70 per cent of children use a mobile phone to access the internet.
Other key findings from the 2020 Childwise Monitor report include:
- Phone ownership is back to levels last seen in 2012 and tablet usage is taking a downturn.
- The amount of time children spend online has risen, with boys remaining heavier users than girls.
- Children now spend 3.4 hours a day online.
- The website Tik Tok has tripled in popularity this year with one in ten children naming it as their favourite site.
- YouTube continues to be children’s favourite website/app.
- All children are spending less time doing sport inside and outside of school.
The report also finds that children are ‘more concerned’ about the environment than they were last year.
One in three seven- to 16-year-olds said they are very concerned about the environment. This compares to only one in five in 2007 – when the question was last asked.
Girls are marginally more concerned than boys about climate change and global warming.
Simon Leggett, research director at Childwise, said, ‘Mobile phones have won over tablet computers and now dominate children’s lives.
‘However, it can be tough to parent your young child’s use of technology when the mobile phone is such a private and personal technology.
‘The moment a child owns a mobile phone, it can be a challenge to monitor what your child is accessing online because it’s such a private technology that most keep, literally, close to their chest’.
