Tablet Ownership Among U.K. Kids Doubled in Past Year, Ofcom Says

One in every three U.K. kids aged 5-15 now owns his or her own tablet, nearly double the rate of ownership from a year ago, said U.K. regulator Ofcom in a report (http://bit.ly/1BXk3PH). Among children in that age group, 34 percent now have a tablet they can call their own rather than using devices belonging to their parents or school, up from 19 percent in 2013, Ofcom said. The sharp increase in tablet ownership among very young children suggests "that some are using one to surf the web, play games and watch video clips before they join school," the agency said. Compared with a year ago, twice as many children aged 5-15 are using a tablet to go online (42 percent vs. 23 percent in 2013), "which could have implications in future use of laptops and PCs," it said. For the first time, the proportion of children accessing the Internet on a PC, laptop or netbook fell, and did so by three percentage points, year on year, to 88 percent, it said. Other Ofcom findings: (1) The popularity of the tablet could be contributing to the declining number of children with a TV set in their bedroom, which is down by a third over the past five years (from 66 percent in 2009 to 46 percent in 2014). (2) However, more than a third (34 percent) of the kids in the 5-15 age group who were asked the question said they would miss a TV most if it were taken away from them, compared with a mobile phone (17 percent), a tablet (15 percent) or a videogame console (11 percent). The exception was kids in the 12-15 age group, who said they would be twice as likely to miss their mobile phones as their TVs (37 percent vs. 18 percent). (3) Despite the skyrocketing increase in global smartphone adoption, three in every 10 U.K. kids own their own smartphones, up from the 29 percent ownership rate a year ago. (4) Girls in their young teens (ages 12-15) use their smartphones for social activities more than boys do. In an average week, a girl will send more text messages than a boy (163 versus 113) and make more mobile phone calls (23 versus 17).