Good news: Your teenage sons and daughters have doubled their productivity over the last year.
No, they're not doing twice as much homework or eating double servings of vegetables. Young teenagers are, however, sending twice as many text messages on average compared with 2011.
Ofcom’s latest annual report on children’s media habits shows that those ages 12-15 are averaging 193 text messages each week, more than double last year's average of 91. Of that group, girls tend to send about 35% more messages than boys.
"Children’s take-up and use of different media is growing at a rapid pace, with some areas such as texting and smartphone ownership fast outstripping the general population," said Claudio Pollack, Ofcom’s consumer group director.
The study also shows that the era of television's monopoly on children's attention may be waning as Internet usage equaled children's self-reported television time. Each activity garnered about 17 hours per week. The children also said it was their cellphones, not their TVs, that would miss the most if forced to give them up.
What do these sharp increases mean for children in terms of fitness and education? Are you parents concerned about your children's web security? Check out the video above for more information on children's media usage as reported in the Ofcom annual report, then visit the comment section to voice your opinion on the topic.