September 22, 2004
Kids Going Mobile
Market research firm TNS found that (American) children start carrying cell phones from age 10 to 14 -- roughly around the time they start becoming more active in after-school activities and start taking on more independence, reports the Mercury News.
But there are also signs that children as young as 5 have cell phones -- mostly for emergency communication while they are in school and the parents are at work.
According to mobileYouth, a London-based firm that tracks youth and technology issues, about 200,000 children between the ages of 5 and 9 are carrying cell phones in the United States today -- and that number is expected to nearly double by 2006.
More than 7 million children between 10 and 14 in the United States have cell phones today -- and that number is expected to jump to almost 11 million within two years, according to mobileYouth.
The biggest changes in cell phone usage among children occurs around age 13, said Emil Morales, spokesman for TNS in Connecticut.
"That's when talking begins in a big way,'' he said. "The middle school years are when they're heavily into peer pressure situations. Cell phones become an image or status thing.''
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