Six-year-olds spending 21hrs a week on own smartphone
A QUARTER of children aged six and under have a smartphone, with nearly half spending up to 21 hours a week on the device, a study has found.
And 77% of parents confessed to paying up to £500 for their child’s first phone. Two-thirds do not cap the monthly spend.
Liam Howley of e-commerce website musicMagpie, behind the research, said: “While the majority of parents in our study stated 11 was the ‘acceptable’ age for children to have their own phones, we saw that 25% aged six and under already owned one.” The study also found a third of parents had given in to youngsters’ constant pleas for a device, while a fifth bought a mobile phone to keep their child entertained. Eight in 10 did not limit the amount of time their child could spend on a phone, which 38% used for playing games.