Tech-savvy kids 'spend £383 a year on games and gadgets'
BY myfinances.co.uk staff
Technology-hungry children are typically spending £383 a year on video games, mobile phone and MP3 downloads, a new report has claimed.
Data compiled by Halifax shows that computer games and equipment account for the lion's share of this outlay. Some 91 per cent of children own a console such as a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, spending an average of £140.92 a year on associated products.
Almost three-quarters (74 per cent) have a phone, racking up typical bills of £104.04 per year. Only 17 per cent of these phone owners pay for their own use, with parents picking up the tab for the rest.
Elsewhere, 70 per cent of children own an MP3 player like an iPod, spending £137.97 annually on downloading tracks from the internet.
Halifax said that in order to pay for their own technology expenditure, children would need weekly pocket money of at least £7.37.
The company's senior manager of saving products Flavia Palacios Umana said: "Many parents will be footing the portable entertainment bill directly or indirectly through additional pocket money contributions."
According to research by Santander, three per cent of British adults have actually been forced to reduce their children's pocket money in order to cut costs in the wake of the recession.
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