New Study Shows Youth Plugged In Most of the Day

An anonymous reader writes "The amount of time youngsters are spending on the web has ballooned to exceed the average adult's full working week, according to a new study. A few years ago, the same researchers thought that teens and tweens were consuming about as much media as possible in the hours available. But now they've have found a way to pack in even more. Young people now devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes to daily media use, or about 53 hours a week according to Kaiser Family Foundation findings released today."

Comments

For those too lazy

[Misanthrope]

To click through and download the PDF
TV 4:29
Music/Audio 2:31
Computer 1:29
Video Games 1:13
Print :38
Movies :25

With a 29% multitasking cut, so from 10:45 total it comes down to 7:38

Not really sure this is all that surprising to me, it's hard for me to feel alarmed over the print and music portions of the time.

Re:For those too lazy

[Misanthrope]

" The report is based on a survey conducted between October 2008 and May 2009 among a nationally representative sample of 2,002 3rd-12th grade students ages 8-18, including a self-selected subsample of 702 respondents who completed seven-day media use diaries, which were used to calculate multitasking proportions."

It also is biased by the type of respondent who would complete a seven day media diary, wth kaiser.

Re:For those too lazy

[derGoldstein]

I actually *am* surprised -- by the time they spend in front of a TV. The "kids" I know think TVs are a relic -- the idea of making an appointment with your media seems absurd to them.

Re:For those too lazy

[red_blue_yellow]

Although the article does contain some overtones of negativity, I think this quote does really present the key importance of the issue:

"When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it's affecting them -- for good and bad," Drew Altman, president and chief executive of the foundation.

Here are my thoughts on each item:

TV 4:29 - Almost entirely negative, I suspect; surely the overwhelming advertisements alone cancel out any benefits the few educational shows.

Music/Audio 2:31 - As a musician, I have a hard time knocking this. Premature deafness from blasting those headphones is no good, though.

Computer 1:29 - As a computer scientist, well, let's just say I'm about 10x this. It can range from really good (research) to horrible (4chan).

Video Games 1:13 - I think this is a healthy dose. Games with physical activity and (gasp) sunlight are better, but this could be worse.

Print 0:38 - I'm surprised this number even exists. I assume the majority of it is beneficial in some ways -- exposure to articulating an idea in writing, if nothing else.

Movies 0:25 - Movies are usually a bit more thought provoking than TV. A slight negative here, but it's still a small number.

Overall, I do believe there is reason for concern, but not outright panic. Let the psychologists do their work and we will only understand the effects of this better.

Re:For those too lazy

[w0mprat]

Someone should do a study into the kind of people who participate in surveys to see if they are naturally inclined over-represented in potentially headline grabbing statistics. But I suspect the result would be biased.

more reading, less doing.

[bronney]

What concerns me most is that the next generation might spend more time reading about something and not have the time to actually DO them. I find the information overload very annoying already at work. Mostly emails. And I feel myself slowly being trained into ASKING for the info rather than experimenting and have your own observation in things.

Don't know how to put it in better words.

Re:more reading, less doing.

[derGoldstein]

I think his point was that they won't reach the "build" part at all. There are so many things to do/consume/interact-with, that they'll just follow a thread of "virtual actions"(corny phrase, I know), and won't feel the need to experience much in real life. This isn't an unreasonable theory, IMO.

Re:That's all?

[Cryacin]

or can Google it and follow the steps.

No, not when the router is down usually.

Re:That's all?

[MaskedSlacker]

I even keep a netbook by my bed in case something comes up I'd like to check *while trying to fall asleep*...

I see I'm not the only one who needs porn to fall asleep.

Re:Your taxes at work

[JackieBrown]

Don't blame the children.
They are not the ones that decide to pay less on education and that ebonics or it's more recent equivalent is good enough.

We are paying more than we were 20 years ago yet children are doing worse in school.

The problem isn't with the money (maybe in some districts) but the way they teach kids now.

My daughter was not taught how to read using phonics, she was taught using "sight words." I asked the teacher she wasn't learning the multiplication table and the teacher said that it was not taught anymore because they prefered 'concepts.' As a result, my daughter does multiplication (not addition but multiplication!!!!) using her fingers. She reads well now due to the time I have spent with her but her writing is still terrible (but it looks pretty.)

Now I fully admit that I should have taken the time to have taught her myself instead of relying on the school system. But I do remember being taught these things when I went to school. And passing out a multiplication table or phonics sheet is not expensive.

Great!

[Col Bat Guano]

Now they'll be too busy to get on my lawn!

Re:When the internet bred overtake the TV bred.

[tehcyder]

The internet is interactive and encourages critical thinking and problem solving.

ROFLMAO