Source: Kids and social networking

 According to a survey, 25% of kids in grades 4-6 own cell phones. Is that surprising? The study also found more than 5,000 kids from 4th to 11th grade have a cell phone. This is expected becaue some parents provide phones for older kids for various reasons. 

Sometimes, kids need to do projects that require browsing the Internet. Rather than providing Internet access at home, which is safer, these kids have private access to social media sites and other sites that might not be a good idea for teen users.

The survey was done by MediaSmarts, also got information from parents about Internet usage among their kids.

 Media Smarts Education Director, Mathew Johnson was quoted as saying, "The numbers were definitely higher than we expected at the younger end,” referring to grades 4-6."The surprise is definitely in those early three grades (four through six) and the fact that in Grade 6 we're up to almost 40 per cent.” "Certainly it highlights the fact that we're seeing earlier and more Internet access (for kids)," said Johnson on Canada.com.

YouTube was a clear winner among kids who chose the music video site over 3000 others on the Web. Trailing YouTube's 75% children's following was Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Mincraft,  Hotmail, Miniclip, and Wikipedia. 

59% of kids using cell phones and having access to the Net revealed they were online playing games while another 50%  or more said they were interested in social media. A third category consisting of 51% of kids said they were into downloading streaming videos and music.

YouTube: What do Kids Think About Social Media?