More than one-third of 8- to 12-year-olds (tweens) in the United States have mobile phones, according to The Nielsen Company's "Kids on the Go: Mobile Usage by U.S. Teens and Tweens" report.
About one-fifth of tweens have texted or used ringtones. Nielsen found that 5% of tweens even use the mobile Internet at least once per month.
"Tweens use their mobile phones, and media in general, in very unique
and important ways," said Jeff Herrmann, vice president of Nielsen
Mobile. "Marketers and media executives need to understand these 'digital
natives' as they mature and reshape the way we all think about new and
traditional media."
Not all tween mobile usage was especially mobile. The majority of teens who used their mobile phones to watch TV or listened to music did so at home.
Asked about their Internet usage, about one-half of tweens said they spent less than one hour per day online.
That is far less than teens. More than four-fifths of US teens said they spent at least an hour online every day.