Nearly 640,000 Australians aged 14-17 accessed the Internet with their mobile phones during December 2013. That is more than half of that age group.

But their overall Internet use is less than that of adults.

New research from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), surveying about Australian teenagers aged 14–17 years, shows that they are actively engaged in the Australian digital life, with 90% having internet access at home, and 72% going online more than once a day.

As of December 2013, 89% of teenagers aged 14-17 had a mobile phone (69% with a smartphone) and 56% used their mobile phone to go online. They performed a range of activities online, with the most popular activity being entertainment (90%).

The research found that while teenagers are frequent users of the internet, they do not spend as many hours online each month as adult Australians, and are not as intensive users.

Teenagers spent an average of 14 hours and 42 minutes online during December 2013, compared to the 40 hours and 21 minutes by adults (aged 18 to 54).

Just over half (55%) of online teenagers performed four or more activities online, compared with 79% of adults.

Social media platforms continue to be popular among teenagers, however, the proportion of teenagers accessing mainstream sites has decreased. Teenagers are now accessing a range of other online forums such as wikis, professional online video content and blogging sites.

The ACMA’s Aussie teens online report is available here.