Mobile More Attractive Than TV For UK Kids

Remember when your mum was telling you to turn that TV off? Apparently, TV seems to be losing its appeal to kids these days. An interesting article today that talks about UK children gradually losing interest in TV and switching to mobile Internet devices.

A new study on young people in the UK showed that fewer children and teenagers have TVs in their bedrooms and their number is almost equal to the number of youngsters having mobile phones with Internet access. At present, more than 60% of UK children, aged seven to 16, own such a gadget, the annual Childwise monitoring survey reveals.

The survey, which monitored 2,770 five to 16 year olds, shows that an average child uses his or her mobile for 1.6 hours per day. A growing number of kids prefer to get online via mobiles, rather than PCs. The trend is most common among secondary school-age children, with over three quarters accessing the web via mobile devices.

The way children use the media is also changing, as their preferences have turned to “a push-button, on-demand content” and scheduled TV programmes are becoming less attractive. Before and after school, children are more likely to play with their mobile than switch on the TV and when reading at home, they are more likely to do it on a screen, rather than holding a book or a magazine, the study noted. Even when in bed, one in three five-to-16-year-old children use a mobile phone.