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A new study, Zero to Eight – Children’s Media Use in America, has investigated the extent to which young children of ages 0 to 8 are interacting with media and how that interaction might affect them. The report continues work done by the Kaiser Family Foundation by surveying 1,384 parents of children ages 0 to 8 years old. The survey was conducted by Knowledge Networks for Common Sense Media from May 27 – June 15, 2011.
Among the questions asked by the study:
- How much time do children spend with television, music, computers, video games, and apps?
- How many children have access to the newest mobile media platforms, such as smartphones and iPads? What do they do with them, and how often do they use them?
- At what age do children usually start using each medium?
- Which educational media platforms are most popular among children, especially those from lower-income families?
- Are there differences in childrens’ media use habits by gender, race, or socio-economic status?
- Is TV viewing among babies and toddlers going up or down? What about reading?
- What is the media environment in children’s homes and bedrooms?
Key Findings
- Even very young children are frequent digital media users.
- 29% of parents have downloaded at least one app for their children’s use.
- Half of all children have access to either a smartphone, an iPod, iPad or other tablet.
- Half of all children have access to a computer; 53% of 2 - 4 year olds have used a computer.
- Half of all 0 - 8 year olds have played a console video game.
- There continues to be a substantial digital divide, for both computers and mobile devices.
· Some 72% of 0 – 8 year olds have a computer at home but that breaks down to 48% for low-income families and 91% among higher-income families. 27% of low-income children have a parent with a smartphone, while 57% of higher-income parents have a smartphone. 38% of lower-income parents don’t know what an app is while only 3% of high-income parents don’t know what an app is.
- Children under 2 spend twice as much time watching TV and videos as they do reading books.
· 47% of babies age 0 – 1 watch TV or DVDs at an average of 2 hrs a day.
- Television continues to dominate children’s media use.
· Two-thirds of 0 – 8 year olds watch TV at least once a day. This age range watches TV 1 hour 44 minutes, 29 minutes reading, 29 minutes listening to music and 25 minutes other devices such as computers, video games and iPhone
- Broadcast television is the most accessible and widely used platform for educational content among lower-income children.
· 26% of low-income children watch educational TV
- Media use varies significantly by race and socio-economic status, but not much by gender.
· African-American children spend 4 hours 27 minutes a day with media, white children spend 2 hours 51minutes and Hispanics spend 3 hours 28 minutes.
Conclusion
- Baby Video
- The report indicates that a “substantial number of infants and toddlers are watching TV and DVDs” regularly and more research is needed on the impact of this.
- Bedroom TV
- Despite calls to reduce TV time for 0 to 8 yrs old, 42% of 0 to 8 yrs old have a TV in their room.
- Educational Media
- Educational TV is still the most popular platform for educational content.
- Health Promotion
- The digital divide makes it more difficult to get important health messages to low-income families.
- Digital Divide
- The digital divide is very present and has added an “app gap”.
- Quality Entertainment
- For those who are concerned with the quality of entertainment and the opportunity of getting important messages to children, TV is still the main source.
- Reading
- It is possible that children are reading less than they did before.
- Multitasking
- Very young children are beginning to multi-task – use more than one medium at a time
The report concludes: “As a nation, we need to continue to think about, research, and debate the impact of media on young children. Media occupy such a substantial place in children’s lives that we ignore it – or take it for granted – at our peril.”
Source: Zero to Eight
