Eneko Tejada at the Bilbao Faculty of Education (Credit Fernando Gómez UPV EHU)
Many parents worry about the risks associated with smartphone use, and increasingly try to delay giving their child a mobile phone. Research shows that by the first year of secondary school (ages 13-14), virtually all students own one. Recognizing this trend, the PV/EHU Weablearner research team, which focuses on education and technology, investigated the digital landscape of children a year earlier, during their final year of primary school (ages 11-12). Their study explored what digital devices these children use and how they use them.
“This is an important age to investigate because although their digital culture has begun to take shape earlier, this is when they start to have their own mobile phones and when the biggest change occurs. Gifting a smartphone has become a rite of passage into a new phase. In a way, it represents the leap to adolescence, as they are given the key to use social media and, with it, the entry into a parallel world. This is of particular concern to families and a technophobic point of view has also spread. So we wanted to explore what the situation really is,” explained the researcher Eneko Tejada.
356 students from six public vocational training schools participated in the study. Two out of three say they have a smartphone and a third say they already had one before the start of the school year. According to Tejada, “we can’t say that smartphone ownership and use is widespread among 11- to 12-year-olds today, but we know it will be in the near future”.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
In terms of usage, the study has shown that they use smartphones mainly to talk to family and friends: “Owning a smartphone means starting to use social media directly. Parents gift their children a mobile phone to communicate with them, to know where they are, etc. But they need to realise that offering a mobile phone makes it easier for them to make the leap to social media, as they will not be using their phones exclusively to talk to family. Data has shown that they also use them to interact with their friends. So parents need to take this into account when deciding when to give their children a smartphone,” Tejada explained.
However, Tejada emphasizes that 11- and 12-year-olds are not particularly drawn to social media, which serves functions beyond simple communication. While they do use these platforms like smartphones, their engagement is limited. Their primary use is watching videos, mainly on YouTube, with infrequent access to Instagram and TikTok. “Social media isn’t yet a major focus for them, and unlike older students, they share very little personal information,” Tejada explained. “They don’t really interact on these platforms, as very few create their own content. Most simply consume content created by others, preferring short, easily digestible videos.”
In terms of use, the study revealed gender differences. Girls watch videos more than anything else on their mobile devices/smartphones, while boys play video games.
