Forget generation Y, generation X, or any other generation for that matter, it’s generation M – that’s M for mobile – that has apparently jumped right into bed with the mobile phone craze at the early age of four to seven, with the help and consent of their parents.

It seems a national survey by parenting educators organisation, Generation Next, has found that of 257 Australian parents - representing 517 children - who were surveyed,  69 percent of kids aged under 18 (1.6 million) have a mobile, and  “a staggering 25 percent of primary school children with mobile phones are allowed to take the handsets to bed with them at night.”

What’s more, Generation Next says a surprising four-in-10 Aussie children were aged just 4-7 – or a little over a million – with 16 percent of them permitted to have their mobile phone in their bedroom.
 
Generation Next says the results of the survey show that the “invasive march of technology has reached the point where overuse of mobiles is threatening juvenile sleep patterns.”

Generation Next spokesperson on adolescent mental health, psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, said the mobile phone data was alarming when viewed against other research showing 40 percent of Australian young people were missing out on the medically-recommended amount of sleep on school-nights.

“Not unexpectedly, teenagers are the most sleep-deprived with 69 percent of 12-18-year-olds missing out.

“I personally know of six and seven-years-olds staying up to 3-4am to send text messages to their circle of friends,” Dr Carr-Gregg said.

Acknowledging that mobiles were, nevertheless, a great way to keep kids in touch with parents, Dr Carr-Gregg said, however, that “as with all technology, there’s a need to use it sensibly.”

“Given the importance of sleep to the ability to learn and study, lack of sleep due to obsessive texting now represents a significant obstacle to Australian kids’ mental development.”

Generation Next says its research is supported by a recent University of Melbourne paper in the international journal, Paediatrics, which suggested a link between children with sleeping problems and poor parent and teacher-reported learning, language and health outcomes.