Kids & Smartphone Usage Survey

By Amy Johnsonbaugh

As kids head back to school, it’s a good time for families to regroup and set ground rules for mobile technology usage. A recent survey conducted by Sprint and Techlicious¹ , of mobile consumers across wireless carriers, reveals that dads and moms disagree on the age to give their children their first smartphone, not all parents give kids smartphone rules, most kids know their parents monitor their mobile phone usage, and more.

Check out the following graphics for a full breakdown.

To make parents’ jobs a little easier, a wide variety of parental monitoring and control apps are available – from wireless carriers and app stores – to help parents track the location of their kids’ phone, monitor content of their text messages and email, photos, and/or web history. Family apps available from Sprint include Sprint Mobile Controls,Sprint Family Locator and Sprint Drive First. The survey found that:

Kids are asking for smartphones at younger and younger ages. But what is the average age a child receives his/her first smartphone? According to the survey, 12-14 years old tops the list for first time smartphone ownership. However, for kids in cities that age is younger.

In addition, moms and dads have different opinions about the right age to grant kids the privilege of smartphone ownership.

Be sure to follow our blog as we’ll be frequently posting additional infographics that feature other interesting results about wireless consumers’ behaviors and preferences from this survey.

Click here to see entire “Connected Kids” infographic. Media is welcome to post the infographic to its print or online publication.

Family Share Pack

Which wireless plan is right for families as kids head back to school? With more data than T-Mobile, and with significant savings over Verizon and AT&T, the new Sprint Family Share Pack is the best family plan available.

• Families switching to Sprint get four lines, unlimited talk, text and 10GB of high-speed data while on the Sprint network for $100/month²
• Sprint’s new plan will save families on a four-line account $720/year over Verizon’s 12GB plan and AT&T’s 15GB plan.
• Sprint’s 10GB is more than double the high-speed data in T-Mobile’s $100 family plan (1GB per line)  Amy Johnsonbaugh is a communications manager for the Apps and Services team at Sprint. Based in Orange County, Calif., she can answer questions related to Sprint-branded or third-party consumer applications, music/entertainment applications, accessibility applications, Sprint ID and family service applications. Amy can be reached atamy.johnsonbaugh@sprint.com.

The survey focused on a wide variety of issues impacting wireless customers today including where they go for their wireless device, what they are looking for in a wireless plan and their overall experience with the wireless carrier.

¹ The web-based survey was completed by 1,433 qualified U.S. respondents over the age of 18. 833 survey respondents were parents. They used a smartphone for personal purposes, pay for the wireless service and make all or some of the service decisions or provide input on wireless device/service plan/service provider. The survey was paid for by Sprint and was executed by Compass Intelligence. ² All phones must be ported from an active wireless line at another carrier and remain active on the plan. Devices must be acquired with Sprint Easy Pay, leasing option, by paying full MSRP or by bringing a compatible phone.