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LAST UPDATE | 21 Nov 2022
JUST OVER HALF of nine-year-olds in Ireland own a phone, up 10% on 10 years ago, new research shows.
The ESRI and the Department of Children have published a new report drawing data from the long-term Government study ‘Growing up in Ireland‘.
The report has compared the lives of nine-year-olds in 2007/8 and nine-year-olds in 2017/18. It draws on the surveys of the children and their parents, as well as time-use diaries completed by the children.
The results throw up some interesting findings.
A significant increase was found in the number of nine-year-olds who have their own mobile phone (up from 44% to 54% over the 10-year period).
There is also a marked shift in the amount of time watching television towards time on other digital devices. Those spending more time watching TV and using computers are less likely to engage in sports, reading for pleasure and cultural activities, the report shows.
Here’s a breakdown of the main findings.
Family changes
The findings show a shift in the profile of children and their families.
Pastimes
Gender differences
The social worlds of nine-year-olds are quite different for girls and boys and these gender differences persist over time, the report outlines.
Girls have closer and less conflictual relations with their parents than boys but have smaller friendship groups and see their friends less often, it says.
They are more likely to read for pleasure and engage in cultural activities but less likely to take part in sports.
Girls also spend less time on digital devices than boys.
They are more positive about school overall but less positive about Maths, and gender differences in attitudes to Maths widen over time.
Socio-economic situation
Children’s lives are strongly influenced by the socio-economic situation of their families.
Children tend to have smaller friendship groups where families are under financial strain, it says.
Children from more advantaged families are more likely to be involved in sports and this social gap widens over time, the study shows.
Policy implications
The report says that the findings have significant implications for policy.
Gender and social background differences in children’s activities emerge early in their lives, the research shows, suggesting the importance of all social groups, and boys and girls, being provided with access to a variety of engaging activities during their early years.
Schools can play an important role in encouraging physical exercise among children, but the findings also highlight the need for community-based facilities, given the constraints for small schools in provision of extracurricular sports.
“‘There are concerning trends in children’s involvement in sports, cultural pursuits and reading, activities that enhance their development,” report author Professor Emer Smyth said.
“Subsidised provision of sports and cultural activities for more disadvantaged groups could help encourage participation,” she said.
“Continued efforts on the part of schools and libraries will be crucial in trying to reverse the decline in reading for pleasure found among many groups of children.”
Launching the report, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said €1.025 billion in funding was made available under Budget 2023 for early learning and care and school-aged childcare.
He noted that cultural initiatives, such as My Little Library, could make a difference to children.
“This initiative offers a book bag with books and resources to every four and five-year-old starting school with the aim to encourage children to read for pleasure,” O’Gorman said.
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Great idea – similar laws in other countries. Should give people the right amount of time in between jobs to find their feet.
Or, maybe we could introduce a system of universal healthcare so that healthcare is accessible and affordable for everyone, and not just those who can afford insurance!
A yrs health insurance every 18 months from now on then
@Misanthrope: I take a break of 13 weeks every year when it comes up for renewal and I do not lose cover or waiting time.
You are allowed 13 weeks to shop about
@ryan3939: I should too but couldn’t be arsed. Going to start doing it now.
@ryan3939: How can you not lose cover if you take that 13 week break ? Do you mean that the insurance company will honour anything within those 13 weeks even if you haven’t paid you renewal ?
@Nosmo King: No, the current system is that, if you cancel a policy from today, you have 13 weeks from today to take up a policy again, before being slapped with waiting periods as a new customer.
So, if you cancel today, and in a month you find out that you need surgery soon, you can call up, set up a policy from the date of the call, and continue on as if nothing happened.
you can also backdate that 13 weeks if you want, but you do have to pay for the time.. which is fine, if you needed cover during the 13 weeks, but if you didn’t, then just setting up from the date of the call is a good option.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Thanks for that. I’m surprised that insurance companies of all businesses allow such an anomaly to exist.
@Nosmo King: I’d say they would say you knew about whatever illness it was and that it was a pre-existing condition so not covered, so basically you don’t have cover for the 13wks your not paying for
@Alison Sheppard: if you’ve completed your waiting periods your free and clear on that score.
@Nosmo King: Np, i spent 6 years in health insurance. This is something that was set out by the likes of the health inurance authority, in order to be fair to health insurance holders
That stamp duty is 444 per adult and 148 per child. 1184 for the typical 1 adult 2 kid family. Ridiculous really
@lavbeer: it’s disgraceful how much of it goes straight to the government. If the tax on the cost of the policies was reduced or removed, health insurance might be more affordable to most.
@lavbeer: but will the saving REALLY be passed on – it rarely is! Remains to be seen.
@cars: For the government health levy (this is the 444, rather than the separate lifetime community rating levy), most of that money actually goes to VHI.
The health levy goes into a pot, and is then divvied up between the insurers. VHI gets something like 80% of the pot, based on how many older (over 65) members they have, and the remainder is split between Laya and Irish Life Health.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: yea it does but it’s up to 50% of my premium which now generally is worthless.
@lavbeer: Totally agree. Its just under 50% for me, and the kicker is that i am with irish life health.. Yet i am still paying vhi a substantial amount, in essence.
The levy was introduced and set out this way, because of the fact that vhi was previously fulky government owned.
Nice to see some bits and pieces coming our way for a change.
What happens if you get sick during the break
@Dave barrett: you won’t have cover if your on a break, but means when you restart you won’t have waiting period again
Say what you will about our health service but our Health Insurance market is actually regulated quite fairly all things considered.
@ForeverFeel1ng: Is that why it goes up every year and is that why the insures never question a hospital bill which is mainly makey uppy in the first place? People in wards being charged for private rooms etc, that kind of regulation?
have your say