YOUNGSTERS are switching off traditional TV to stream shows on their phones.
Telly regulator Ofcom last year found teenagers are more likely to get their news through Instagram and TikTok than the news channels.
But they are also watching their favourite movies and TV shows on these apps.
We asked kids across the country, aged nine to 14, about their viewing habits.
This is what they had to say . . .
ARIF HISHAM, 11 – USES TABLET
ARIF, from Southampton, says: “While I’ll occasionally watch telly with my parents, I prefer to use my tablet to watch YouTube.
“I like joke videos and watching kids my own age make videos about what it would be like if they were a millionaire for a day.
“TV channels are for boring old people. When my mum told me what the BBC licence fee was, I thought she was crazy paying for it.
“I won’t when I’m older.”
AMELIA ROSE ODOGWU, 11 – PHONE & TABLET
AMELIA ROSE, from Swanley, Kent, only sits down with her mum Samantha, 40, to watch EastEnders.
She says: “TV is dull, there are boring adverts and you have to wait to watch what you want.
“I use my phone and tablet to watch YouTube, Netflix and Disney+.
“Watching TV my way puts me in control. It’s instant and I can choose from millions of options.
“The licence fee sounds so old-fashioned.”
ALBIE PRESTON, 14 – MOBILE PHONE
ALBIE, from North London, said: “It’s rare that I sit down with my family to watch TV. I watch telly on my phone.
“I started watching EastEnders at Christmas because of clips on TikTok.
“Lily’s pregnancy left us all shocked because she’s only 12.
“When we were all waiting to find out who the daddy was, the episode dropped on BBC iPlayer on my way to school on the bus. I ran in to tell them little Ricky got her pregnant.”
CLOVER COOPER, 10 – LAPTOP & TABLET
CLOVER, from Darlington, said: “I like watching clips from movies on YouTube as there’s nowhere else to do that for free.
“You have to pay for movies on streaming sites so I’ll watch the movie in different clips online.
“I like watching Stranger Things on Netflix. I use Netflix a lot.
“I like streaming channels because there’s lots of variety.
“I rarely watch stuff on an actual TV. It’s always on my laptop or tablet.”
ELIJAH DALLEN, 14 – PHONE OR iPAD
ELIJAH, from Coventry, says: “I suppose I’m quite old school because I like to watch TV at home.
“I’m a big sports fan and prefer to watch events on a proper screen.
“But for everything else I’m usually on my phone or iPad.
“I use YouTube to watch gaming videos and football analysis and revision videos for school.
“Amazon Prime and Netflix have great sports documentaries and make really good TV shows.”
ELLA-ROSE KITCHING, 9 – MUM’S PHONE
ELLA-ROSE, from Shotton Colliery, Co Durham, said: “I watch TV on my mam’s TikTok account.
I use her phone and usually watch songs and clips from movies like Disney’s CoCo. I also like watching puppy videos.
“If I watch YouTube videos of people painting dolls and toys there’s an advert every two seconds. I hate them.
“So I do prefer streaming apps like Netflix in that sense.”
