One in four Korean elementary schoolers with a phone use it while walking

In May 2017, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance's Traffic, Climate & Environment Research Institute released a children's safety survey of 1,533 elementary students and 1,260 parents in Seoul. 55% of the children had a smartphone — 44.5% in grades 1–3 and 63.7% in grades 4–6.

"스마트폰을 가진 초등생 중 26.1%는 걸어다니면서 스마트폰을 사용한 적이 있다고 응답했다"

"26.1% of elementary students with a smartphone said they had used it while walking." — Kyunghyang Shinmun (May 4, 2017)

Among children who used a phone while walking, 31.4% said they had been in an accident or a near miss. For children playing augmented-reality games on the move, it was 37.6%.

What this shows

More children get a phone as they move up through elementary school, and the habit of using it on the move starts then. Handing over a first phone is the easiest moment to agree: "when you're walking, it goes in your pocket."