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Tablet computers replace television as children's top gadget(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Tablet computers have replaced the television in the bedroom as the must-have gadget for children, with more than a third of youngsters aged five to 15 owning their own device, Ofcom says. Studies from Ofcom, the UK's media and telecoms regulator, found that the proportion of children using their own tablet, instead of having to turn to a parent's device, had increased from 19% in 2013 to 34% in 2014. More than six in 10 children now use a tablet computer at home, a figure that is up 50% from the 2013 level. But the number of children with television sets installed in their bedrooms has decreased by a third within five years. Tablet use has expanded for all age groups over the last couple of years since they became an affordable alternative to a PC. Tablets can be bought for under pounds 100 from leading high-street retailers and supermarkets. Both Tesco, with its Hudl tablet, and Argos spotted the trend last year and released their own brand tablets, making them available for under pounds 100. Tesco reports that it has sold 750,000 Hudl tablets in the past year. The research company eMarketer expects there to be 24.6m tablet users in the UK in 2014. Apple's iPad still dominates in this market, with half of British tablet users. The number of children aged five to 15 using a tablet to go online has doubled to 42% in the past year, while PC use for internet access by children has decreased by 3% to 88%. PC sales have steadily decreased over the last three years, as tablets and other smart devices have grown in popularity.Beyond internet access, tablets are being used by children for a range of different activities. Games are played on tablets by 30% of children, while 20% say that they watch live TV on their tablets, and 33% watch on-demand television. Social media also play a large part in the internet use of older children, with 71% of 12-to-15-year-olds saying they have a social media profile on Facebook, Twitter or some other service. But in that age range, girls are more likely to have an Instagram, SnapChat or Tumblr account than boys. YouTube attracts more boys than girls, who are more than twice as likely to use the site. Ofcom found that 84% of parents in the UK directly supervised their children online and that 82% said they had defined rules about the use and access of the internet by their offspring. More than half the parents also used online tools to manage their child's internet use on tablets and PCs. These included internet filters, password protection schemes and anti-virus software. More than three-quarters of parents felt they knew enough, at the moment, about the internet and how it worked to protect their family, but 43% felt that their children knew more about the internet than they did, a figure that rose to 62% for the 12-to-15-year-olds. Captions: More than six in 10 children use a tablet at home, with about a third of those using the device to play games and a fifth watching live TV (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited. |