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OK, I don’t consider myself naive when it comes to kids’ use of media. But even I was surprised by this study by the Kaiser Family Foundation about kids’ media use. Parents and youth workers should check out this study.
Some interesting highlights:
-Average media use is over 7.5 hours/day, which since kids are multi-media-tasking during those 7.5 hours is actually more like 11 hours.
-TV use is on the decline.
-Only 30% of kids say their parents set rules for their media use. But those whose parents do so end up watching less than half of the media of kids whose parents don’t set rules.
-2/3 of kids say the TV is on during meals at home and almost half say the TV is on “most of the time”.
Even I am stunned. Are you?
Trackback URL: http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2010/01/stunning-media-use-for-kids/trackback/
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I am stunned too, Kara. You know, this kind of gives the lie to the “kids are so busy and over-committed these days” view, doesn’t it? If kids on average spend 7.5 hours a day on various media (including 4.5 hours of TV, and NOT including 1.5 hours of texting per day according to the study), then clearly the problem isn’t a lack of time, or too much time being spent on extra-curricular activities. It seems we need to figure out (with parents) how to help kids set priorities for their time.
July 20th, 2010 at 7:34 am
[...] effects of extended play (in this or other areas). According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study earlier this year, average combined media use for kids is over 7.5 hours/day (way, way more than 2 hours!), and only [...]