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Nearly two thirds of kids to track on Santa on mobiles as he delivers gifts around the world

A quarter of adults are planning on giving a device as a Christmas gift this year

NEARLY two thirds of kids will be following Santa on mobiles and computers as he delivers gifts around the world this Christmas Eve, a survey revealed.

The tech-savvy youngsters will be using various Santa tracker websites and apps — or may even get a digital call from Father Christmas himself.

Two thirds of kids will be tracking Santa on mobiles and computers as he delivers gifts around the world
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Two thirds of kids will be tracking Santa on mobiles and computers as he delivers gifts around the worldCredit: Getty

Meanwhile, 90 per cent of adults will be using their devices to keep in touch with friends and family on the big day, the Vodafone poll has found.

Of those, 67 per cent will connect with others in a different part of the country and 33 per cent with loved ones overseas.

A quarter are planning on giving a device as a Christmas gift, the most popular being smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Almost a fifth will video call friends and family when presents are opened.

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The research comes as Vodafone announces it has helped two million digitally excluded people and businesses cross the digital divide, by working with partners including The Trussell Trust and Good Things Foundation.

People can continue to support this campaign this Christmas by playing Elf & Seek – an augmented reality game which gives people the chance to gift one of 50,000 SIM cards to those in need, donated by Vodafone through its “everyone.connected” programme on their behalf.

A Vodafone spokesman said: “At ­Christmas, we know being connected to loved ones is more important than ever.”

Norad have been doing this for a long time, starting back in 1955.

Apparently it all began by accident, when a kid accidentally rang the unlisted phone number for CONAD (Norad's predecessor) after seeing an ad in a newspaper telling children to ring Santa.

The boss at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, is said to have answered the phone and told staff to check the radar for signs of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.

And so it continued ever since.

A special website shows you exactly where Santa is as he whizzes across the world from country to country, at .

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