Nielsen has published a ‘pocket guide to social media and kids’ (thanks to Erin Lamberty for sending it to me), it’s a US stats digest, and one that mirrors a lot of what’s been published in the UK, Australia et al.

In particular, Nielsen looks at the theme that “to adults, cell phones are a communications device. To children, they are a lifelines” – or as Synovate found out recently in a global study, they are increasingly ‘remote controls for life.’

The following chart shows that 13-17 year olds significantly over-index in mobile Internet use when it comes to social networking, music, games and videos / music. At the same time, the average age in which kids first use mobiles / cellphones has gone down over the past year from 8.6 to 8.0 years.

As Nielsen says, “the next time you hear ‘everybody’s got one’, the fact is, that classic ploy may be true.”

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