Most 10 year olds now own a mobile phone says new report that reveals impact of mobile phones on young lives today

The Mobile Life Youth Report, one of the biggest ever social studies to examine how mobile phones have changed the way young people live, is published today, by The Carphone Warehouse, advised by The London School of Economics.

The report is the second from Mobile Life, a forum set up by The Carphone Warehouse earlier this year to study how mobile phones change the way we live. It offers an unprecedented insight into the world of young people and mobile phones, creating a real sense of the complexity of young lives today. Over 1,250 young people aged 11 to 17 who own mobile phones were surveyed by polling organisation YouGov.

“The mobile phone has become the most important electronic device for young people in the UK today with 91% of children having a mobile phone by the time they go to secondary school at 12 years old," said Charles Dunstone, chief executive officer, The Carphone Warehouse Group plc.

“It provides them with a social network, a sense of security and access to entertainment. But most importantly it provides them with a sense of belonging to their peer group."

Key Trends
The Mobile Life Youth Report looks at the impact of the mobile phone on daily life, family & relationships and school. It reveals that life for young people today involves new rules, new etiquette and new pressures.

“Some people think mobile phones are like earrings and are unnecessary and inappropriate for people below a certain age. However most parents disagree as the mobile phone offers new ways for young people to connect that many adults wish they had enjoyed as teenagers," said Dr Pat Spungin, founder of parenting website www.raisingkids.co.uk.

“For young people mobile phones engender more sharing of experiences, emotions and pictures. The challenge for parents is to exploit the mobile phone as young people have."

Most 10 Year Olds Own a Mobile Phone
The latest Mobile Life report from The Carphone Warehouse shows that 51% of 10 year olds have a mobile phone. At this age mobile phone ownership rises sharply, from 24% for nine year olds. By the time they go to secondary school at 12, 91% of children have a mobile phone.

Young People Send Three Times More Texts than Their Parents
By a large margin, young people would rather text than talk. 11 to 17 year olds text more than they talk, and text three times more than their parents. They send or receive 9.6 texts a day, and make or receive 3.5 calls a day. In contrast, adults make or receive 2.8 calls and 3.6 texts a day.

Mobile Phones Improve the Social Lives of Young People
More than three quarters (78%) of 11 to 17 year olds say that having a mobile phone gives them a better social life, because they can more easily maintain contact with their friends. Among 15 to 17 year olds, the proportion rises to 84%. More widely, 70% say their mobile phone has made their life better.

Teenage Girls Feel Unwanted When Nobody Calls
The need to belong is emerging as the most powerful need of all. More than twice as many young people as parents, and especially teenage girls, would feel unwanted if the day went by without their mobile phone ringing. For 11 to 17 year olds it’s 26% versus 11% for parents. For 15 to 17 year old girls this figure rises sharply to 42%.

Private Worlds Created that Exclude Parents
Mobile phones give many children a chance to escape the attentions of their parents and create their own private worlds where their parents are excluded. One in three say they talk regularly and/or send texts to people they do not want their parents to know about. A similar number “sometimes dodge calls from my parents."

Mobile Phones as Private as a Diary
For young people, their mobile phone is as private to them as the written diaries of their parents at a similar age. Two thirds of 15 to 17 year olds and almost half of 11 of 14 year olds would not allow their parents to look through their text messages and pictures on their mobile phone.

Text Dating
Mobile phones have revolutionised teenage dating. Texting is unthreatening, unobtrusive, and allows contact to be made with the minimum of risk and the maximum of discretion. A quarter of 11 to 17 year olds have received a text inviting them on a date. 16 to 17 year olds are almost twice as likely to have received a text inviting them on a date than adults aged 25 and over.

Texting Translations
To help parents better understand and communicate with their children, the Mobile Life Youth Report has taken a light hearted look at the language used in texting in TeenTalk: A Parent’s Guide to Mobiles & Young People.

First Phone Guide
The Carphone Warehouse has also put together a first phone guide that talks parents and young people through everything they need to know when buying their first mobile phone - this can be picked up in stores or from www.carphonewarehouse.com