Experts have told about the most popular children's gadgets

Russian parents most often buy smartphones and smart home devices for their children. This conclusion was reached by the experts of the Generation M project from MTS, who studied the opinion of almost 1,500 respondents with children aged up to and including 17 years old.

According to the study, 43% of children under 7 have smartphones, and by the age of 8, 82% already use a smartphone.

Smart home devices are commonly purchased for younger children. In the room of a child under 3 years old, parents install climate or lighting control, as well as smart cameras or baby monitors - 12% and 10% of children have them, respectively.

The research results show that parents from early childhood strive to surround their children with functional digital assistants for comfortable living, safety and quality edutainment content, said Pavel Fedosov, head of the MTS IoT products center. "Together with the animated series "Fixiki" we launched a large course about the Internet of Things for children 6-10 years old. It is called 'Cognizing the World with Fixiks' and tells in simple language how a smart apartment, smart building and city functions, how to apply technology and artificial intelligence in medicine and ecology," he continued.

Overall, the most popular gadgets for children are smartphones (64%), tablets (30%), smart speakers (21%), children's watches with SIM card (18%), smart cameras or baby monitors (6%).

Parents buy gadgets to monitor safety (51%) and for entertainment (42%). The first reason is especially significant in the 8-12 age group (57%). At the age of 8, the child starts going to school independently, so they buy smart watches as an opportunity to have a connection with him/her and determine geolocation. Parents also buy gadgets for the development of the child and the use of devices in the learning process.

It is noteworthy that children of all age categories buy smart speakers, climate and lighting control, and cameras more often than fathers. Fathers also buy smartphones, while mothers are more likely to buy tablets and children's watches.