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.
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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.
Vodafone is giving away two million free sim cards this Christmas to digitally excluded people, and businesses working with anti-hunger charity the Trussell Trust and digital aid body the Good Things Foundation.
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 noradsanta.org.