54% of nine-year-olds now own a mobile phone

There has been an increase in the percentage of nine-year-olds who have their own mobile phone — up from 44% of that age group in 2007/8 to 54% now. File Picture: iStock

Nine-year-olds play less sport, are less involved in regular cultural activities, spend more time online, and are more likely to own a mobile phone than was the case previously, according to the latest tranche of data from the Growing Up in Ireland survey.

The survey has found that families are also more likely to be educated to a higher level, more diverse, and enjoy greater closeness between parents and their children.

Yet there are also findings described by the author of the report as "very concerning" — chiefly changes that were found in children’s pastimes.

It found there was a fall in those taking part in sports, with 44% of nine-year-olds playing sport almost every day in 2007/8, compared to 34% of nine-year-olds surveyed in 2017/18. There was also a slip in the percentage of children engaging in regular cultural activities such as music or dance lessons — from 47% of nine-year-olds in 2007/8 to 44% in 2017/18.

Over the same period, there has been an increase in the percentage of nine-year-olds who have their own mobile phone — up from 44% of that age group in 2007/8 to 54% now.

According to The Social Worlds of 9-year-olds Report, published today by the Economic and Social Research Institute: "There is a marked shift in the amount of time watching television towards time on other digital devices. Those spending more time watching TV and using computers are less likely to engage in sports, reading for pleasure and cultural pursuits. 

Owning a mobile phone is associated with less time reading and lower levels of involvement in cultural activities."

Author of the report, Professor Emer Smyth, said the findings indicated that certain patterns are set early in life, such as the likelihood of reading for pleasure or playing sport, and often follow gender or socio-economic patterns.

"There are very concerning findings, given that it is only a decade [between the two groups] — the fall-off in sports participation, in cultural participation, reading for pleasure — except in children of graduates," she said. 

It is all worrying because they all promote broader development as well as cognitive development."

The findings are based on answers given in 2017/18, and Prof Smyth said it was likely there had been more disruption to those young lives since then, not least due to the pandemic. The findings of the next stage of the study, based on the nine-year-olds in 2017/18 turning 13 last year, will reveal the answers, though Prof Smyth said a previous national event may have played some role in the changes outlined in this report.

"I wonder whether a potential factor is the fact that this younger cohort were exposed to a greater extent of the recession in early childhood, suffering more financial strain," she said.

A lot of these activities — not reading — often require payment, whether that is part of the picture, along with the digital shift."

As for increased levels of phone ownership, she said: "It's not possible to say that [less sporting and cultural participation] is all because they are on their screen, but we do see a trade-off for some young people — if you are spending much more time on digital devices or even watching television, you are less likely to engage in those sporting or cultural elements."

Family relationships

Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children and noted other trends. For example, parents are more likely to have degrees (increasing from 26% to 39%), families are more linguistically and culturally diverse, and more children are reported to have illnesses or disabilities (up from 11% to 24%).

While mothers and fathers report greater closeness to their children over time, mothers also report increased conflict.

It said: "The majority of children report being very close to their mothers and fathers, but this is lower for the younger cohort: declining from 86% to 80% for mothers and 83% to 77% for fathers."

It also found that eating together as a family every day has become less common, declining from 72% to 67%.

The most recent group are broadly positive about school, with an increase over time in the proportion always liking it (from 27% to 33%), but there was little change in attitudes to school subjects such as reading and maths.

While children typically have two or three close friends, more nine-year-olds now say they have a larger network of six or more friends (25%) than the previous group surveyed in 2007/8 (17%). Around a quarter see their friends outside school almost every day, similar to the level a decade before.

The report also found that children’s lives are strongly influenced by the socio-economic situation of their families, and that gender and social background differences in children’s activities emerge early in life.

Children's Minister Roderic O’Gorman

Children's Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the data would inform policy decisions. 

"The report’s finding that the gender and social background differences in children’s activities emerge early and tend to persist suggests the importance of early learning and care in providing access to a variety of engaging activities for girls and boys across all social groups," he said.