Kids and mobiles: how Australian children are using mobile phones

Trends in kids’ mobile phone use

In 2020, just under half (46%) of Australian children aged 6 to 13 used a mobile phone, up from 41% in 2015.

Figure 1: Children aged 6 to 13 who have used a mobile phone, June 2015 to June 2020 (%)

Base: Australians aged 6 to 13, in the 12 months to June. Total sample sizes for each research subset are provided in Table 2 in the methodology.

Source: Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey

In the 12 months to June 2020, 1 in 3 children (33%) aged 6 to 13 owned the mobile phone they use, unchanged for the last few years.

Figure 2: Mobile phone ownership among children aged 6 to 13, June 2020 (%)

Base: Australians aged 6 to 13, in the 12 months to June 2020. Total sample size is provided in Table 2 in the methodology.

Source: Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey

Playing games, taking photos/videos and using apps were the most common activities on a mobile phone by kids in the 12 months to June 2020. Using the mobile to communicate via text messages and calling a parent/family were also common.

Over the 3 years from June 2018 to June 2020, more children used their mobile phone to communicate with family and friends.

Figure 3: Top 10 mobile phone usages in the last 4 weeks among children aged 6 to 13, June 2015 to June 2020 (%)

Base: Australians aged 6 to 13 who used a mobile phone, in the 12 months to June. Total sample sizes for each research subset are provided in Table 6 in the methodology.

Source: Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey.

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