Teenagers would be more willing to give up watching TV than to stop using their mobiles or the internet, according to new research.
The study, from UK communications watchdog Ofcom, found that more than a quarter of 12 to 15-year-olds interviewed said they would miss their phones (28%) and one in four (25%) said they would miss internet access compared to fewer than one in five (18%) for TV.
It is the first time teenagers have chosen their phones and the internet over TV. In a similar survey conducted by Ofcom last year, 24% would miss TV the most when the same question was asked last year.
However, the same study found children are spending more and more time watching TV.
Those aged four to 15 watched a weekly average of 17 hours and 34 minutes last year, almost two hours more than the 15 hours and 37 minutes of 2007.
Nearly all (95%) 12-15-year-olds now have internet access at home through a PC or laptop, up from 89% in 2010 and 77% in 2007.
But the proportion of youngsters with home internet access who have a social networking profile remained fairly static from last year at 3% of five to seven-year-olds, 28% of 8-11s and 75% of 12-15s.
Half (50%) of 12 to 15-year-olds with a smartphone said they visited social networking sites weekly, up from 33% in 2010.
Nearly a quarter of teenagers (23%) – 30% of teenage girls – said they knew someone who had been bullied through their mobile.
The report also raised safety concerns, finding 28% of 12 to 15-year-olds and 17% of eight to 11-year-olds had relatively open social networking profiles, open to friends of friends.
