Fifty per cent of the UK’s 10-year-olds owned a smartphone in 2019, in keeping with a report by media regulator Ofcom.

The quantity of younger telephone house owners doubled between the ages of 9 and 10, which Ofcom dubbed “the age of digital independence”.

As well as, 24% of Three and 4-year-olds had their own pill, and 15% of them have been allowed to take it to mattress.

Ofcom’s annual report seems on the media habits of youngsters, and the categories of gadgets they’re utilizing.

The 2019 research was primarily based on greater than 3,200 interviews with youngsters and fogeys across the UK.

“The cell phone is the gadget of selection for kids,” stated Yih-Choung Teh, technique and analysis group director at Ofcom.

“I am acutely aware that for these youngsters who’ve by no means recognized a world with out the web, in lots of respects their on-line and offline worlds are indistinguishable.”

The report additionally discovered that extra older youngsters have been utilizing social media to specific their help for social causes and organisations, with 18% having shared or commented on a publish, and one in ten having signed an internet petition.

Ofcom dubbed this “the Greta impact” after the 17-year-old environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg.

Different key findings for 2019 included:

• 48% of women aged 5-15 performed on-line video games, in contrast with 71% of boys. Boys spent twice as lengthy taking part in, clocking up 14.5 hours per week, in contrast with 7.5 for ladies
• Snapchat and Fb remained the most well-liked social media platforms of older youngsters, however 62% have been additionally utilizing WhatsApp (up from 43% in 2018)
• 99% of youngsters aged 5-15 used a TV set, 27% used a good speaker and 22% used a radio
• 80% of the kids within the report watched video-on-demand, and 25% watched no stay broadcast TV in any respect. One nine-year-old woman informed researchers: “I do not actually just like the TV as a result of you’ll be able to’t choose what channels are on it”.

Ofcom additionally interviewed mother and father about their considerations. It discovered that 45% of mother and father thought the advantages of youngsters utilizing the web outweighed the dangers, however there was an general enhance in parental concern about younger folks seeing content material that may cause them to self-harm.

Just below half (47%) of the mother and father spoken to have been frightened about stress to spend cash inside video games, particularly on loot bins, the place the reward shouldn’t be clear earlier than buy.

• ‘The youngsters emptied our checking account taking part in Fifa’

Of these mother and father with youngsters aged between 5 and 15, 87% had sought recommendation about the best way to preserve them secure on-line.

“We’re seeing round half of 12-15 yr olds saying they’ve seen hateful content material on-line, and a rise in mother and father who’re involved about it,” stated Yih-Choung Teh.

“The excellent news is, extra conversations about staying secure on-line are additionally taking place throughout the nation.”

Following the report, youngsters’s charity the NSPCC known as for impartial regulators to power social media platforms to guard their customers from viewing dangerous materials.

“Whereas it is encouraging that folks are speaking to their youngsters about their media use, we should look to tech giants to guard their customers and guarantee they’re a power for good not dangerous,” stated Andy Burrows, head of baby security on-line coverage.