Eight out of 10 children have a mobile phone but in most cases mums or dads foot their bills, a new survey by Halifax suggests.
Some 80pc of kids aged 8-15 have a mobile phone, which rings them up monthly bills averaging stg£9.18.
The older the child, however, the higher the amount of the bills: bills of an average stg£10.45 a month are received by the 94pc of children aged 12-15 who have a mobile, compared to 66pc of kids aged 8-11 who talk and text their way to an average bill of stg£7.02 every month.
The parents of most of these children (72pc), however, pay those bills, whereas 21pc of kids fund the cost of having a mobile phone.
The survey also revealed that 91pc of children have a games console, with more boys (95pc) having the device than girls (87pc).
Boys also spend more on computer games and equipment each month, at an average of £11.56, whereas girls spend an average of £7.77 on the same items.
TNS questioned 1,204 children aged between eight and 15 between 26 August and 2 September.
