June 05, 2007
Kids Today: Not Too Young to Use Consumer Electronics
By Prabhala Ranga Sai, TMCnet Contributor
More and more young Americans are using consumer electronic (CE) devices. The average age at which children begin using CE devices has declined from 8.1 years in 2005 to 6.7 years in 2007, according to results of a recent NPD Group survey, out this week. This trend may prompt manufacturers to come up with “kid” versions of their products, which many parents are already interested in purchasing for their children.
The NPD Group report is based on data collected via the Web to provided insights into the influence of consumer electronics on kids’ lives. Compared to similar data collected in 2005, this survey shows that children are now getting their hands on electronic gadgets at younger ages.
According to the survey, children typically begin to use TVs and desktop computers at age seven and satellite radios and portable digital media players at age nine. Other electronics introduced into childrens’ lives early on include DVD players and cell phones.
The survey also uncovered a seemingly contradictory trend: as the age at which they use electronic devices is declining, the average number of these gadgets owned and used by kids is also coming down—instead of going up. The same is true with the number of households using these electronic devices. About 25 percent of households have not made any purchase of electronic devices in the past 12 months, the survey found. Even the interest in electronic goods among households declined—from 83 percent in 2006 to 74 percent in 2007.
While overall ownership figures for electronic products among kids has been on the decline for the past two years, though, ownership figures for PDMPs, portable video games and digital cameras is increasing rapidly.
Kids are not only drawn to the latest consumer electronics (just like their parents); they are also adopting technology very easily, NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier said in the report. Cell phones, digital cameras and PDMPs topped the list of purchases for children.
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communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents free to registered users.P.R. Sai is a contributing writer for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
