Fewer young children have a phone of their own than before

According to the latest School Survey, around a quarter of 5–6-year-olds and 58% of 7-year-olds have their own phone, which is a drop of dozens of percentage points compared to last year. In the survey, the question as to whether a child has a phone for their personal use covers all kinds of phones: smartphones, basic phones and watch phones.

‘In previous years, almost all 7-year-olds have had a phone of some kind, whether a smartphone, a basic phone or a watch phone. Children’s phone use and the associated challenges have been a hot topic in recent years, and parents have started to pay more and more attention to the harmful effects of smartphones in particular. The public debate on this subject has probably contributed to the fact that parents now seem to wait until their children are older before giving them a smartphone in particular. Attitudes have changed rapidly in this respect,’ says Jussi Mälkiä, Vice President, Brand Development at DNA.

The percentage of children aged between 5 and 7 years who have a smartphone has been dropping at a moderately steady pace since 2021, but the biggest change has taken place in the last year. For the youngest children, the trend in having a smartphone is declining. Of all children with a phone, the prevalence of smartphones in particular has fallen markedly among both 5–6-year-olds and 7-year-olds.

More parents of children aged between 5 and 6 years took part in this year’s survey than in last year’s one. Although the numbers of respondents per age group are relatively small, there has been a statistically significant change in phone ownership among children aged 7 years and over compared to the previous year.

‘The School Survey shows that there seems to be a downward trend in phone ownership among the youngest age group. DNA does not recommend giving unsupervised access to a smart device to the youngest schoolchildren or to children below school age. It is important to remember that having an adult present is always a better safeguard than age limits, as even children who do not have a smart device of their own are exposed to a wide range of content through their friends’ smart devices. It is common for children who have a smartphone to share their device with friends who do not yet have a device of their own,’ Mälkiä explains.

This year was the first time that parents of children aged between 5 and 12 years were asked in the School Survey about the length of time that their child had used a phone under supervision before being allowed to use a device independently. One in four children had spent less than 6 months practising phone use with a parent first, and 16% had used a phone under supervision for between 6 and 12 months before progressing to independent use. One in four had begun using a phone independently straight away.

‘It is comforting to know that around 30% of children aged between 5 and 7 years still only use a phone under supervision or with a parent. We want to encourage all parents to adopt this approach,’ Mälkiä says.

Watch phones are becoming more common as first phones

Starting school is a clear turning point in phone ownership, as most children still get their first phone at the age of 7 years.

 ‘When a child starts school, their world widens and they gain a new level of independence.  It is therefore not surprising that parents’ top reasons for purchasing a phone for their child are enabling parent–child communication and safety,’ Mälkiä says.

While smartphones have been the most popular first phones according to parents of children aged between 5 and 12 years, the popularity of watch phones especially as a child’s first personal phone is on the rise. For children aged between 5 and 12 years who have their own phone, 16% of parents said that they had chosen a watch phone as their child’s first phone; this marks an increase of seven percentage points from a year ago. Watch phones have already become clearly more popular than basic phones as children’s first phones.

According to the School Survey, the most common reasons for choosing a watch phone are limiting screen time and preventing access to inappropriate content. With a watch phone, children cannot access the internet and can only communicate with pre-determined contacts.

DNA’s School Survey conducted together with Nepa Insight focuses on factors involved with phone use and phone purchases of school-aged children and young people. The survey has been running annually since 2011. Approximately 1,000 parents of children aged between 5 and 16 years answered the School Survey via an online panel between 22 January and 11 February 2025. The survey has a margin of error of +/-3.2 percentage points when the results are extrapolated to the entire respondent population. The survey can be found here.

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DNA Corporate Communications, tel. +358 44 044 8000, communications@dna.fi