New report finds dramatic rise in daily media use among US children and teens
A new US report has found that 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week), up from 6 hours and 21 minutes in 2004.
The study by the Kaiser Family Foundation also revealed that because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually fit a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those 7½ hours.
According to the report, the increase in media use is driven in large part by increased access to mobile devices like mobile phones and iPods. Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in ownership among American 8-18-year-olds: from 39% to 66% for mobile phones, and from 18% to 76% for iPods and other MP3 players.
About two thirds (64%) of young people in the US say the TV is usually on during meals, and just under half (45%) say the TV is left on “most of the time” in their home, even if no one is watching. Seven in ten (71%) have a TV in their bedroom, and half (50%) have a video game console in their room.
Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said: “The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it’s even more than a full-time work week.
“When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”
Despite a decline in the amount of time spent watching regularly-scheduled TV, down 25 minutes a day from 2004 to 2009, there was an increase in total TV consumption from 3:51 to 4:29 per day, including :24 of online viewing, :16 on iPods and other MP3 players, and :15 on mobile phones. In total, 59% (2:39) of young Americans’ TV-viewing consists of live TV on a TV set, and 41% (1:50) is time-shifted, DVDs, online, or mobile.
A US study released by TargetCast tcm towards the end of last year, looking at changing media habits among men and young adults aged 18-43, revealed that there were big usage declines in newspapers, magazines and radio.
TV and internet, respectively, were identified as the most important media, although 18-34 year olds ranked the internet as more important than TV.
The KFF report is based on a survey conducted between October 2008 and May 2009 among a sample of 2,002 students aged 8-18.