We all know that we are now living in the digital age, but has our addiction to social media and technology become too much?
Research has found that 9 out of 10 children are on social media platforms by the age of 12 – despite the fact that the age limit for accessing Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is actually 13!
The study discovered that a quarter of kids aged between 4-12 years share selfies of themselves on some form of social media – and this was a case study that involved 5,000 individual children – a whopping figure which really highlights our obsession with personal online forums.
Data gathered from Kids Insights, the most comprehensive and dynamic market intelligence specialist in the UK, found that three quarters of 4-6 year olds even own their own tablet.
It also revealed that almost half of 12-year-old girls use Instagram, 42% use Snapchat and 29% regularly sign into Facebook. In regards to the opposite sex, Facebook is the most popular with boys (43% of 12-year-olds admitted to using the platform).
Kids Insights’ lead future analyst Nick Richardson said: “As the data clearly demonstrates, kids’ ecosystems continue to become more complex, fragmented and dynamic – especially as connected technology continues to become more prevalent in the off line world.
“And with children owning more devices than ever before from a young age, as well as using social media, chat sites and apps from an earlier age, brands are facing a huge challenge to keep up. That’s why data like this is so important for brands to help them understand the picture and which trends are coming and going.
“As we highlighted in our future forecast report, which provided a big picture view taking into account the views and answers from 20,000 children, there is a need and an opportunity for tech brands – in particular social media – to develop child friendly platforms which are suitable and appealing to tweens and early teens.”
To find out more information you can visit kidsinsights.co.uk.
> Hannah Montgomery
Kids Insight Study Finds Children Under Age Limit Use Social Media
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