Youngsters spending more time online

The UK’s children now spend more time online than they do watching television, official figures show.

Youngsters aged between five and 15 now spend around 15 hours online each week. This figure is up by an hour and 18 minutes on last year, Ofcom said.

Even three and four-year-olds are spending an average of eight hours and 18 minutes a week online, up by an hour and a half on last year.

YouTube has become one of the most popular online destinations for children to watch content, with 73% of five to 15-year-olds and 37% of pre-schoolers regularly using the video site, typically for TV-style cartoons and mini-movies.

To make time for this, children have cut the time they spend watching TV from an average 14 hours and 48 minutes last year to 13 hours and 36 minutes.

However, nine in 10 children still watch TV, generally every day and between 6 and 9pm.