86 percent of 13-year-olds have a mobile phone
Three of four 12-year-old children in Spain already have a mobile phone. This number increases after 13 years, since the percentage of minors who have a Smartphone at this age it is 86%. This is indicated by the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Homes carried out by the National Institute of Statistics, INE.
Increase of 2.8 points
The INE survey reflects how new technologies have been introduced in younger generations. If these data are compared with the same work in 2015, it will be verified that the number of children under between 10 and 15 Years that own a phone has increased by 2.8 percentage points. Growth that has occurred for the third consecutive year and is expected to increase in 2017.
This survey has verified the use of other devices by the new generations. In this sense the 94,5% of children between 10 and 15 years of age use the computer assiduously. A test that shows how new technologies are more and more present in the lives of the youngest.
Smartphone to navigate
Young people between 10 and 15 years old surf the net with assiduity. His favorite tool for this is the Smartphone, half used by 93.3 percent of the participants in this work. The next most used device for this activity is the portable computer, 57.8 percent of the respondents, and in third place the desktop computer, 45.4 percent.
Nor is it strange that the number of households that have access to the network have increased. If in 2015 78.7 percent of the houses had internet, in 2016 this figure has grown to 82 percent. These data translate into that around 13 million homes are connected to the virtual world.
Ensure correct use
A good training by parents will help make the use of these devices is appropriate.
1. Responsibility. If the child receives a smartphone, he must accept a series of rules for responsible use. If you violate them, there will be consequences.
2. Reviews. Among these rules should be the review of the activity that the child performs. You must accept that parents can see from time to time the use you make with your mobile.
3. Parental filters. The child must accept that browsers and other applications install filters to prevent access to content not recommended for their age.
4. The mobile banned at school. We may want the child to bring a Smartphone to school to be located in case of emergency. But just for that, not for fun or distraction. In class the mobile should not be used.
5. Beware of personal information. The child should never provide information that can give clues on how to locate it. In the event that these data are necessary to install an application, parents should be consulted to assess security.
6. Take care of the phone. Not only must ensure the physical integrity of the mobile, you also have to be careful not to install applications of dubious origin that can open the door of the smartphone to other people.
7. The phone is not your life. We must transmit to the child that his mobile is a tool, not an object through which he can live. The need to relate in person and to depend as little as possible on this object must be inculcated.
8. Learn from mistakes. It is inevitable that the child will occasionally exceed the use of the mobile phone. We will take advantage of these situations to improve your education.
9. Communication. If someone starts to annoy a child through their mobile, they should know that the first thing to do is to inform the parents of this situation.
10. Do not use it for harassment. The child may find it funny to play a joke on a friend through his smartphone. You have to make him see that just as he can be annoyed to receive these thanks, to the other person as well.
Damián Montero
