Valencia Makes Way To The Cyber Generation

SIXTY ONE PER CENT of 9 to 14-year-olds in the Valencian Community own mobile phones.

Of these, 39 per cent have smart phones which they use to connect to social networking sites or to chat using instant messaging.

Young people are developing worrying habits, declared Fernando Moner, president of the regional consumers’ association, Avacu. “Does a child of 10 really need a mobile,” Moner asked.

Children increasingly keep more secrets from their parents, owing to the amount of time they spend on social networking sites, he warned.

The group recently polled 630 children and adolescents in the 9 to 14 age group and found that they are starting to use mobile phones at an ever-earlier age. 

More than 50 per cent of children aged 9 and 10 have social networking accounts, rising to 90 per cent for those between 13 and 14.

Twenty seven per cent in this age group connect to the internet every day, the majority with a computer although 42 per cent use a mobile.  Just over 25 per cent use iPads or tablets.