Almost 2 out of 10 Kids Use Smartphones

Kids are learning earlier than ever to swipe and scroll on smartphones.

eMarketer.com says Harris Interactive surveyed online US students in February 2013 on behalf of Pearson and found that 19% of elementary school students used smartphones and 42% of middle school students did so as well. Elementary school consisted of grades 4 and 5, while middle school represented grades 6 through 8.

The home is where many kids encounter their first smartphone. A Learning First Alliance and Grunwald Associates study in November 2012 found that in 77% of surveyed US households with school-age children, someone in the family owned a smartphone, nearly equal to the penetration rate of PCs in such households.

And kids are highly likely to pick up those phones and begin navigating their capabilities. The study found that 43% of children ages 3 to 18 used the smartphone, with 65% of that group doing so on a daily basis. The broader age range of children surveyed explains the different penetration rates between the Pearson study and LFA’s research.

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