The UK’s telecoms regulator has found that nearly a quarter of children between the ages of five and seven own a smartphone while a similar percentage use social media unsupervised.

In its annual study of children’s relationships with the media and online worlds, comms regulator Ofcom found infant schoolchildren are increasingly online and given more digital independence by parents, as calls grow for greater regulation of social media use among under 14s.

The research showed 24 percent of five- to seven-year-olds own a smartphone, while 76 percent use a tablet.

It also documents increasing use of online platforms, social media and games. The proportion of 5-7s using of social media has increased from 30 percent last year to 38 percent in the 2024 survey. Many of the most popular apps in the market have seen big increases in the same period: WhatsApp use is up from 29 percent to 37 percent; TikTok from 25 percent to 30 percent; and Instagram from 14 percent to 22 percent.

Online gaming within the same age group has also jumped from 34 percent to 41 percent, with the number of kids aged five to seven playing shooter games rising from 10 percent to 15 percent.

Of the children using social media, 42 percent do so with parental supervision while 32 percent use it independently.

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Ministers are said to be considering banning sales of smartphones to children under the age of 16, while there have also been calls to enforce bans of social media use among under-14s.