Most children own a mobile by the age of 8
The charity Personal Finance Education Group has released a survey carried out on 546 children between the ages of seven and 15 shows that the average age for a child to own their first mobile phone is eight years old. By the time they reach 15, more than 75 per cent are equipped with at least one mobile.
The survey was actually conducted to detail financial awareness in children, which uncovered statistics showing that by the age of ten many children were already using their parents credit cards to shop over the internet. Twenty-five per cent have used their mobiles to vote on TV programmes, 18 per cent had bought books online and an impressive 32 per cent were buying games online.
Children today face a kind of 'technological tipping point' forcing them to develop financial awareness at an earlier age, said the charitys chief executive, Wendy van den Hende.
It is therefore vital that they are equipped with the skills and judgment to make sound decisions about money management from an early age.
Mobile games aimed specifically toward the adolescent user arent especially prevalent, though this research could cause many developers to re-evaluate the viability of a much younger customer base.