Significant rise in kids, teens media use: study

Significant rise in kids, teens media use: study

MUMBAI: Children between 8 to 18 years in the US devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes in using entertainment media in a typical day, reports The Kaiser Family Foundation study. This accounts up to more than 53 hours per week.

This demography‘s ability to multitask the Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8 to18 year olds, means they can pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7 hours and 38 months.

The widespread use of cell phones and iPods among this demo is driving the gains in consumption use, the report reveals.
66 per cent of the children between 8 to18 years own cell phones, up from 39 per cent in 2004 while 76 per cent have iPods or other MP3s, up from 18 per cent. 
 
The study also found that only about 28 per cent of young people say that they have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV. But when parents do set limits, children spend less time with media-those with any media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day than those with no rules.

In addition, 64 per cent of young people say that the TV is usually on during meals, and 45 per cent say the TV is left on "most of the time" in their home, even if no one is watching. Plus, 71 per cent have a TV in their bedroom, while 50 percent have a console video game player in their room.

Another key finding of the Kaiser study is that the amount of time spent watching regularly-scheduled TV declined by 25 minutes a day from 2004 to 2009. However, because of the internet, cell phones and iPods, total TV consumption rose from 3:51 to 4:29 per day, including 24 of online viewing, 16 on iPods and other MP3 players and 15 on cell phones.