New Ofcom Report Suggests Parents’ Rising Concern Over Children Online

Ofcom: making sense of media – children’s media use and attidues

Ofcom has uncovered three notable online trends over the last year.

• Two gaming-related problems are increasingly concerning parents: the pressure on their child to make in-game purchases of things like ‘loot boxes’, a virtual item containing rewards (47%, up from 40%); and the possibility of their child being bullied via online games (39%, up from 32%).
  Girl gamers on the increase. Almost half (48%) of girls aged 5-15 now play games online – a big rise from 39% in 2018. The number of boy gamers is unchanged at 71%, but boys spend twice as long playing online each week as girls (14 hours 36 minutes vs. 7 hours 30 minutes). Boys cited FIFA, Crew 2, Destiny 2 and Fortnite as examples of the games they play
• The ‘Greta effect’
  Driving increased online social awareness among kids – Ofcom have seen an increase in online social activism among children. Almost a fifth (18%, up from 12% in a year) of 12-15s use social media to express support for causes and organisations – potentially environmental, political or charitable – by sharing or commenting on posts. One in 10 signed petitions on social media.
• Rise of the ‘vlogger next door’
  While high-profile YouTube stars remain popular, children are now increasingly drawn to influencers like them. These people, known as ‘micro’ or ‘nano’ influencers, often have fewer followers. They might be local to a child’s area or share a niche interest. Children described these influencers as more relatable and directly engaged with their followers, while others described being able to imitate their content on their own social media channels.

Social media use more fragmented

Today’s study finds that older children are using a wider range of social media platforms than ever before. WhatsApp, in particular, has grown in popularity among 12-15 year-olds since last year, despite having a minimum age limit of 16.

WhatsApp is now used by almost two-thirds of older children (62%) – up from 43% in 2018. For the first time, it rivals Facebook (69%), Snapchat (68%) and Instagram (66%) as one of the top social media platforms for older children.

Newer platforms such as TikTok – which enables users to create 15-second lip-sync, comedy and talent videos – are also becoming more popular. Around one in seven older children use TikTok (13%) – up from 8% in 2018. One in 20 older children use Twitch – the live streaming platform for gamers.

Alexa – how many children use smart speakers?

Children are using more connected devices than ever before. Among these, smart speakers saw the biggest increase in use over the last year. More than a quarter of children now use them – up from 15% in 2018 – overtaking radios (22%) for the first time. Children’s use of smart TVs also rose from 61% to 67%.

Children’s viewing habits are changing dramatically too. Almost twice as many children watch streaming content than they did five years ago (80% in 2019 vs. 44% in 2015). In 2019, fewer children watched traditional broadcast TV than streaming content (74%), with a quarter not watching it at all.

But YouTube is as popular as ever, remaining children’s firm favourite for video ahead of Netflix, Amazon Prime, the BBC and ITV.

The age of digital independence

When it comes to going online, children are most likely to use a tablet (68%) but mobiles are becoming increasingly popular and children are now as likely to use a mobile as they are laptops (55%).
This move to mobile is being driven by older children, with 10 years old,  becoming the age of digital independence.

Between age nine and 10, the amount of children who own a smartphone doubles from 23% to 50% – giving them greater digital independence as they prepare to move to secondary school. By the time they are 15, almost all (94%) children have one.

Yih-Choung Teh, Strategy and Research Group Director at Ofcom, said:
“Today’s children have never known life without the internet, but two million parents now feel the internet causes them more harm than good.

So it’s encouraging that parents, carers and teachers are now having more conversations than ever before with children about online safety. Education and stronger regulation will also help children to embrace their digital independence while protecting them from the risks.”