Teen & Tween media behavior divergent

The Nielsen Company announced findings of a new study, "Kids on the Go: Mobile Usage by U.S. Teens and Tweens." For mobile media and cross media behavior of U.S. "tweens" (ages 8-12), Nielsen found 5% of tweens access the Internet over their phone each month.

While 41% of tween mobile Internet users say they do so while commuting or traveling (to school, for example), mobile content such as the Internet is also a social medium for this audience. 26% of tween mobile Internet users say they access the web while at a friend's house and 17% say they do so at social events. 35% of tweens own a mobile phone; 20% of tweens have used text messaging; 21% of tweens have used ring & answer tones.

Young mobile users are also turning to their phones for in-home entertainment. 58% of tweens who download or watch TV on their phone do so at home; 64% of tweens who download or play music on their phone do so at home; 56% of tweens who access the Internet on their phone do so at home.
Nielsen also reports that tweens spend less time surfing the Internet than their teen counterparts. In this report, 48% of U.S. tweens said they spend less than one hour per day online. When they are online, 70% of tweens use the Internet for gaming. Comparatively, 81% of U.S. teens say they spend one hour or more per day online, with e-mail being the most pervasive online activity for this age group.