Kaiser Network's Key Findings on Kids and Media
Below are some notes on viewing Vicky Rideout's speech on the Kaiser Network's key findings on kids and media:
- She notes how public education campaigns have already “put the power of media to positive use," especially through the medium of television.
- In a study of 8-18 year olds, these young people average 6.5 hours of media consumption/participation per day, 7 days a week.
- Furthermore, with the dawning of new media sources (chats, blogs, vlogs, wikis, cell phone communications/texting, online personal websites, MMORPGs), young people are not cutting back on their consumption/participation with older media forms (music, film, tv, video games). Instead, they’re beginning to double up on media tasks. Statistics reflect a change from students in 1999 claiming that they multi-task with more than one media task 16 % of the time, compared to students in 2004 multi-tasking approximately 26% of the time.
- The findings suggest that the interactivity of new media resources will have a lasting impact on students’ ability to learn, as well as impacting their perception of themselves, the world, and how they will interact with others socially (especially, in direct contact situations).
- Also, the findings suggest that the way young people are “media multi-tasking" will impact their ability to focus or absorb information.
- Rideout suggests that parents, educators, and the community should allow for creative freedom when navigating these tools, but that young people ought to be protected from harmful media. She claims that many parents are allowing kids to participate in these activities without any guidance. For instance, the research states that approximately 50% of young people have been given NO RULES on their media consumption, and that only 20% of the parents who do create rules actually enforce these rules.
Stats on daily tv consumption:
- In homes where the tv is not just left on during the day, young people watch 1 hour less per day.
- If there is no tv in the young person’s room, they tend to watch 1.5 hours less per day.
- In homes where tv rules are enforced, young people watch 40 minutes less per day, as opposed to kids with no tv-watching rules.