Title of Study: Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds

Author(s): Victoria J. Rideout, Ulla G. Foehr, Donald F. Roberts

Summary:

This is the third in a series of Kaiser Foundation studies of recreational media use by teens and tweens in the U.S.  Although media use was already very high at the time of the previous study five years ago, usage increased dramatically between 2004 and 2009.  On average, young Americans are now spending more than 53 hours a week engaging with their televisions, computers and mobile devices.  When multitasking is factored in, it amounts to 10 hours and 45 minutes of media exposure per day. These numbers do not include the time spent using media for schoolwork or the time spent texting or talking on their phones.

Sponsoring entity(s): Kaiser Family Foundation

Date conducted: 2010

Location of the study: This study can be accessed through the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Setting(s) addressed:

• Outside of classroom

Targeted population(s):

• Grades 3-12

Primary sources of evidence used in the study or report:

• Survey of over 2,000 students, ages 8 to 18, weighted to be representative of the national student population.
• Week-long media diaries to quantify time spent multitasking from a subset of survey participants.

Primary Technology Application(s) Addressed:

• Computer
• Television
• Smart phone
• Music
• Video

Major education topic(s) addressed:

• Educational use of technology was not addressed, only recreational use

Major findings/conclusions:

• The average American age 8 to 18 spends more than seven and a half hours a day, seven days a week using media, including smart phones, computers or television. Much of this time is spent multitasking, so that the equivalent of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media exposure is crammed into each day.  The average 8- to 18-year old spends an additional hour and a half texting and half an hour talking on the cell phone each day, which was not counted in the study.  Texting and talking are used more by older teens than by pre-teens.
  
  
• Kids aged 11 to 14 years are the heaviest consumers of media at more than eight and a half hours a day, and are particularly heavy users of TV, movies and video games.
  
  
• Black and Hispanic youth spend more time with media than White youth, particularly TV, music and video games.
  
  
• Mobile media account for much of the increase in media exposure over the last 5 years.  This category includes iPods, MP3 players, cell phones and laptops.  An average of 49 minutes a day is spent accessing media on cell phones, in addition to texting and talking.
  
  
• Although young Americans are watching less TV programming on a television set, they have increased total TV consumption by accessing programming on cell phones, iPods and computers, and TV content consumption is the single largest use of media time.
  
  
• In addition to their mobile devices, 8-18 year olds spend an hour and a half on computers each day outside of schoolwork.  Much of this time is devoted to social networking, gaming and video sites like YouTube.

Practical implications of the findings:

• The report finds that nearly half of all heavy media users (>16 hours/day) report school grades of C or below, compared to about a quarter of light users (<3 hours/day).
  
  
• Heavy media users more often reported that they are often bored or sad, that they get into trouble a lot and are not happy in school.
  
  
• No correlation was seen between level of media use and time spent engaging in physical activity.
  
  
• When parents impose limits, teen technology use drops by about 3 hours a day, but only 30% of parents impose limits.
  
  
• Much of the increase in technology use in the last 5 years can be attributed to the increase in ownership of mobile devices and the increase in use of social networking sites.

Reviewer Comments:

Although there are correlations between heavy media use and a number of negative feelings and behaviors, the study was not able to determine a cause and effect relationship or the direction such a relationship might run.