News & Resources from the Kaiser Youth Media Study released March 9, 2005
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Kids have more electronics in bedrooms, use several at once

Genaro C. Armas,  Associated Press  
March 9, 2005 

WASHINGTON -— "Go to your room and do your homework'' may not sound like such a bad idea to many children.

Nearly a third of kids 8 to 18 say when they're doing schoolwork at home, they're often talking on the phone, surfing the Web, instant messaging, watching TV or listening to music at the same time.

The finding is part of a Kaiser Family Foundation survey that showed what many parents already know — kids' rooms are turning into multimedia centers.

For instance, 54 percent of children's bedrooms had a VCR or DVD player last year, up from 36 percent in 1999, and 31 percent of kids had a computer in their room, up from 21 percent.

What effect so-called "media multitasking'' has on the often fragile ability of kids to focus is unclear because detailed research is quite new, said Vicky Rideout, the foundation vice president who directed the study.

"We are not necessarily saying that kids spending more time with more media is a bad thing,'' Rideout said. "This is something all parents have to decide based on what age their kids are, how they are doing in school and the parents' own values.''

Place some of the blame — or the praise — on the Internet and technology like instant messaging that have become widely used tools for education and entertainment, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

"The parental fear is that this can't be good by splitting kids' attention into so many segments,'' Rainie said. "Yet the argument in favor of it is you are more efficient, you can do things on the fly that you couldn't do before.''

Kaiser surveyed more than 2,000 third through 12th graders between October 2003 and March 2004 about their recreational or non-school use of TV and videos, music, video games, computers, movies and print. The study included nearly 700 panelists who kept seven-day "media diaries.''

On average, kids devoted six hours and 21 minutes a day to recreational media use, up just two minutes from 1999, the Kaiser study found. That's more than 44 hours a week — four more hours than a parent's typical work week.

But 26 percent of kids in 2004 said they "multitasked'' when using any form of media, up from 16 percent five years earlier. That could mean a child downloading music over the Internet while talking on the phone, or chatting online while watching a favorite TV show.

Over the same period the proportion of kids' homes that have two or more computers jumped from 25 percent to 39 percent, and the proportion with Internet access in the home grew from 47 percent to 74 percent.

The percentage of kids who can surf the Web from the privacy of their own bedroom doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent. The proportion that watch cable or satellite TV from their own room grew from 29 percent to 37 percent.

In many homes, that means a child is constantly exposed to television — whether someone is actually watching or it is just on in the background.

Amy Bobb, 41, of Harrisburg, Pa., says her son Wesley, who will turn 8 in June, doesn't have a TV in his room and probably never will. Bobb also has a 3-year-old son. She gives Wesley a "ticket'' to watch 30 minutes of television in the family room for every 30 minutes he spends reading a book.

"As they get older, I don't want them to disappear in the bedroom and watch television,'' she said.

Such rules aren't the norm, according to the Kaiser study. Fifty-three percent of kids said their families had no rules for TV viewing. The remaining kids said they had rules, but just 20 percent said the rules were enforced most of the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kids' Rooms Becoming Multimedia Centers

By GENARO C. ARMAS
Associated Press Writer  March 9, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It wasn't too long ago that a kid with a stereo and television in his room might have been the coolest on the block. Now, that just makes him one of the crowd.

In the past five years, many children's rooms have evolved into multimedia centers, with cable or satellite hookups, computers and video game consoles.

For instance, 20 percent of youngsters age 8 to 18 can surf the Web from their bedrooms, double the figure from 1999, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released Wednesday.

That has helped turn kids into "media multitaskers," researchers suggest. Nearly one-third of kids say they chat on the phone, surf the Web, instant message, watch TV or listen to music "most of the time" while doing their homework.


What effect this behavior has on the often fragile ability of kids to focus is unclear because detailed research is fairly new, said Vicky Rideout, the foundation vice president who directed the study.

"We are not necessarily saying that kids spending more time with more media is a bad thing," Rideout said. "This is something all parents have to decide based on what age their kids are, how they are doing in school and the parents' own values."

Some of the blame - or praise - rests with the Internet and technology such as instant messaging, tools widely used for education and entertainment, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

"The parental fear is that this can't be good by splitting kids' attention into so many segments," Rainie said. "Yet the argument in favor of it is you are more efficient, you can do things on the fly that you couldn't do before."


Kaiser surveyed more than 2,000 third-graders through 12th-graders between October 2003 and March 2004 about their nonschool use of TV and videos, music, video games, computers, movies and print. The study included nearly 700 people who kept seven-day "media diaries."

On average, kids devoted six hours and 21 minutes a day to recreational media use, an increase of just two minutes from 1999, the Kaiser study found.

That still amounts to over 44 hours a week - four more hours than a parent's typical work week.

But 26 percent of kids in 2004 said they "multitasked" when using any form of media, compared with 16 percent five years earlier. That could mean a child is downloading music over the Internet while playing video games, or chatting online while watching a favorite TV show.

Over the same period the proportion of kids' homes that have two or more computers jumped from 25 percent to 39 percent, and the proportion with Internet access in the home grew from 47 percent to 74 percent.

The proportion of kids who had a VCR or DVD player in their room rose from 36 percent to 54 percent, while the proportion with cable or satellite TV in their own room grew from 29 percent to 37 percent.

Cable and satellite programming is not subject to the federal indecency guidelines that free, over-the-air broadcast TV and radio stations must follow.

Speaking at a Kaiser forum Wednesday, Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton said increased exposure to risque TV programming, violent video games, and salacious Internet sites have led to a "silent epidemic" of media sex and violence.

"Parents worry their children will not grow up with the same values they did because of the overwhelming presence of the media," said Clinton, D-N.Y. She called for closer attention by parents and government to what kids watch and play.

That goes beyond just keeping a time log of how much time they spend in front of the TV or the computer, said Donald Roberts, a Stanford University communications professor.

"It's not just the time, it's the messages. ... What are they learning from that time," Roberts said after the audience was shown clips of racy scenes from ABC's "Desperate Housewives," a Britney Spears video and other programs.

A majority of kids - 53 percent - in the Kaiser survey said their families had no rules for TV viewing. The remaining kids said they had rules, but just 20 percent said those guidelines were enforced most of the time.

---

On the Net:

Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/ 

Kids living `media-saturated lives,' study finds


BY ROBERT DODGE

The Dallas Morning News  3/10/05

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - A report issued Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation confirmed what many parents already suspect: Young people have become viewing, listening and surfing addicts.

And, the kids are super at multi-tasking, able to simultaneously listen to music, use a computer and do homework.

The report found that 8- to 18-year-olds "live media-saturated lives," spending 44.5 hours a week with electronics - enough to fill out a full time-job. The 6.5 hours a day compares with 2.25 hours spent with parents, 1.5 hours spent in physical activity and just 50 minutes on homework.

"Multi-tasking is a growing phenomenon in media use, and we don't know whether it's good or bad or both," said Drew Altman, Kaiser's chief executive.

Kaiser, a non-partisan health research association, presented the study at a Washington news conference that featured appearances by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; hip-hop artist Common; Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps and a bevy of media experts.

The report was based on a study of 2,032 youth, ages 8 to 18, who answered a 40-minute questionnaire. It also included results from a seven-day diary of media use by 700 young people.

Kaiser officials said the data raises - but does not answer - many questions about the effects of youthful media use.

Experts said the study is a starting point for more research and debate. But in the interim, they said parents can regulate the media their children consume.

"What parents do makes a real difference," said Vicky Rideout, a Kaiser vice president.

The study found imposing rules reduces television watching time and video game playing. For instance, in homes with limitations, seventh- to 12th-graders watched 1.55 hours of television daily, compared to 2.58 hours in families with no restrictions.

Even so, the study found that 53 percent of homes have no rules about television. And while 46 percent said their families have rules, only 20 percent said they are enforced.

While much remains to be learned, media experts said the increasing media use could affect interpersonal and family relations, have health consequences and affect learning and intellectual development.

Even so, the study turned up unexpected findings: Despite intense media consumption, youth reported they have lots of friends, get good grades and are happy and stay out of trouble.

Other findings left experts wondering about the cause-and-effect role of media.

Kaiser found 18 percent of youth who report the lowest level of "contentedness" spend more time using media. Those who are least content spend nearly a half-hour more daily listening to music and 20 minutes more playing video games.

"These data cannot tell us whether heavy media use contributes to a sense of discontent and poor grades, or vice versa," the report said.

In sorting out the results, experts said they remained concerned about the content and volume of media consumed.

Kaiser showed clips of videos from television and games young people typically view. The scenes depicted graphic violence and sex, as well as substance abuse, unpleasant interpersonal conflicts and messages suggesting youth aspire to have unrealistic physiques.

Young people receive so many messages daily because the rapid pace of technology has brought so many new delivery devices - many of them located in children's bedrooms.

Television remains a constant companion, although cable with its edgier programming, is overtaking traditional broadcast. Two-thirds of young people have a television in their bedroom and half have a VCR/DVD player. And slightly more than half have a video game player and nearly one-third have a computer.

Donald Roberts, a communications professor at Stanford University, remembered when sending a child to their room was punishment. Now, he said, "`Go to your room' means `go to the media arcade.'"

---

© 2005, The Dallas Morning News.

 

American children juggle media


TV, MUSIC, WEB: ALL AT THE SAME TIME

By Sam Diaz

Mercury News  3/10/05

American kids spend more hours playing video games, watching TV, surfing the Web and chatting on cell phones than some of their parents spend working inside office cubicles.

And yet, today's children and teenagers aren't necessarily bringing home lower grades or spending less time outdoors because of it.

Those were among the conclusions of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which released a report Wednesday that provided a snapshot of how media-saturated American youth are.

In all, American youths are exposed to more than 8 1/2 hours a day of all types of media, ranging from TV to computers to books. But they pack that into 6 hours and 21 minutes a day, partly because they're so good at doing many things at the same time: watching TV while playing a handheld video game or listening to Internet radio while sending instant messages.

Still, the six-plus hours a day comes out to 44 1/2 hours a week, the Menlo Park foundation noted.

``The one thing that leaps out at you is that they're consuming huge amounts of media messages, seven days a week. It's the equivalent of a full-time job,'' said Vicky Rideout, director of the study about a so-called ``Generation M.''

``We're not saying `this is a good thing' or `this is a bad thing.' We're simply saying, `Here are the facts of what's happening to look at and explore further,' '' Rideout said.

Overall, the report found that kids spend the vast majority of their time with electronic media. They spend an average of 3 hours and 51 minutes a day watching TV, videos or DVDs; 1 hour and 44 minutes listening to music; and 1 hour and 2 minutes on the computer. Reading books, magazines or newspapers takes up 43 minutes.

The foundation released its findings Wednesday as part of a forum in Washington, D.C., that included television and video game executives, a hip-hop artist, the Federal Communications Commission and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

The Kaiser foundation surveyed more than 2,000 third- through 12th- graders (ages 8 to 18) across the nation from October 2003 to March 2004. It released a similar study in 1999 and plans to update its findings every five years.

In the 1999 study, children and teens were exposed to a total of 7 1/2 hours of media over 6 hours and 19 minutes a day. Today, they're exposed to an extra hour of media, largely because of increased computer and video game use, but they spend only two extra minutes with it, compared with five years ago.

That indicates that young people may have hit a ceiling in the number of hours of their day they can devote to media, the foundation concluded.

In turn, there's no sign that they're sacrificing school work, sleep or physical activity, Rideout said. The study found no correlation between time spent watching TV and time spent on sports and exercise. There also was little relationship between grades in school and the amount of time spent in front of the TV, computer and video game console.

Among the study's other findings:

• Almost 70 percent said they have a TV in their bedroom. Almost half have a video game console in their bedroom and more than 30 percent have computers.

• More than half own handheld video game systems and almost 20 percent have MP3 players.

• Girls spend about two hours a day listening to music compared with 89 minutes for boys. Girls spend only 25 minutes a day playing video games, compared with 70-plus minutes for boys.

• Kids ages 8 to 10 spend twice as much time playing video games as those ages 15 to 18. Conversely, the older teens spend more than twice the time on the computer than the younger children.

• Eighty percent of white children have at-home connections to the Internet, compared with 67 percent for Hispanics and 61 percent for blacks.

• Thirty percent said they either talk on the phone, send and read instant messages, watch TV, listen to music or surf the Web for fun ``most of the time'' while doing homework.

Robby Valderrama, a senior at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, is among the generation that can do ``media multitasking,'' as the Kaiser foundation puts it.

``When I sit down to do homework, I spend a little time on Launch, which is Yahoo Music,'' Valderrama said. ``While I'm doing homework, I'll have AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) on to shoot someone a note, or maybe ask for help with homework, though it's not always homework-related.''

But when it comes to reading something in a newspaper, magazine or book, it's much tougher to multitask, he said. ``Reading a book is more challenging because you have to focus on that task only. I have to make myself do it. I have to lay down on my bed and have nothing else on. Not even music.''

 

KAISER STUDY DOCUMENTS CHILDHOOD MEDIA SATURATION
Sen. Hillary Clinton Uses Data to Criticize Marketers, Media Companies
March 09, 2005
By Ira Teinowitz   http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44503

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- The typical American schoolchild now spends more time engaged with media each week than the average adult spends working full time in that same period, according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Released today in Washington, the report, "Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds," documents that children live more media-saturated lives than ever before, spending 6.5 hours a day engaged with TV, the Internet, digital games, radio, MP3 players and other media. The report notes that the most dramatic change from previous years is that so many children routinely multitask, thereby being exposed to the content and advertising of two or more media simultaneously. When that total exposure is taken into account, their average engagement with media each day is the equivalent of 8.5 hours a day, the report concluded.

Curbing content
Sen. Hillary Clinton, a keynote speaker at the event, noted that the new data is good reason for marketers to make greater efforts to curb violent content and pitches for unhealthy food in their advertising.

"Food advertisers should be more responsible about the effect they are having," the New York Democrat said. "I would like to see the entire food industry come together to develop voluntary guidelines that take their responsibility to children seriously."

Dick O'Brien, executive vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, said his group was pleased Mrs. Clinton was asking for voluntary action by marketing companies rather than government intervention.

Media violence
Mrs. Clinton also joined Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Rick Santorum, R-Penn., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., today in reintroducing legislation to boost research into the impact of media on children, including its impact on the food choices. She said she is especially worried about the effects of media violence and made clear her remarks applied to video games and movies as well as broadcast content.

Mrs. Clinton likened the ultimate effect of excessive media violence to a "silent epidemic" of behavior problems. "We don't necessarily see the results immediately," she said, "it's desensitization over years and year and years. It's getting into your mind that it's OK to diss people, because of their color or because they are women or they are from a different place.”

'Evidence is conclusive'
"The evidence is conclusive on balance that the exposure to this much media and particularly to the violent content is not good for children and teenagers," she said.

She also called for the industry to air more public-service announcements on media literacy and she reiterated her call for the film and broadcast industries to develop a single ratings system.

In a response afterward, Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, said "Everyone who watches any television at all acknowledges the amount of violence on broadcast TV is far less than the violence on cable and satellite."

Grocery industry response
The Grocery Manufacturers of America in a statement said, "Food manufacturers and advertisers agree with Sen. Clinton that obesity is serious public health issue and we are committed to helping Americans live healthier lifestyles.

"With regard to advertising, the food and advertising industries have a nearly 30-year successful record of working with the Children's Advertising Review Unit to monitor ads to children to ensure they meet strict guidelines," the statement said. "Individual companies also have internal policies and programs that ensure that communications to children are done responsibly. All of these industry efforts are under continual review to ensure we are responding to consumer's needs and concerns."

Kaiser Foundation
Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and analysis of national health care and related issues. Today's presentation was held in the organization's Washington offices.

The foundation said one reason it conducted the study was the lack of publically available information on the subject. "Traditionally, data about children's media use have been in the domain of marketers and media companies, the result of proprietary surveys conducted for commercial purposes and not available to the broader public," the report said.

The Generation M study analyzed media use throughout a nationally representative sample of 2,032 third-graders through 12th-graders. Seven hundred of the students also kept daily media diaries of their non-school media use.

Media breakdown
Overall, the study found that during a typical day, typical 8- to 18-year-olds do the following:

* 81% watch TV
* 74% listen to radio
* 68% listen to CD/tape/MP3
* 54% use a computer
* 47% go online
* 47% read a magazine
* 46% read a book
* 41% play console video games
* 39% watch videos or DVDs
* 35% play handheld video games
* 34% read a newspaper
* 21% watch prerecorded TV
* 13% go to a movie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Children Packing More Media Into Their Days, New Study Shows
http://www.kwtx.com/news/headlines/1350642.html

Children and teens are packing an increasing amount of media content into their days as
they devote more time to “new media” without cutting back on their use of more traditional
media such as TV, print and music, a new study released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds.

The study examined the use of media by a representative nationwide sample of nearly 700 third through 12th graders.

It found the amount of media content young people are exposed to daily has increased by more than an hour over the last five years from about 7 ˝ hours to more than 8 ˝ hours.

But it also found that because young people multi-task, using several media simultaneously, the actual time devoted to media use during the day has remained constant at just less than 6 ˝ hours a day.

“Kids are multi-tasking and consuming many different kinds of media all at once,” said Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Multi-tasking is a growing phenomenon in media use and we don’t know whether it’s good or bad or both.”

The study found that the bedrooms of children are increasingly becoming multi-media centers, raising what the foundation said are important issues about supervision and exposure to unlimited content.

Two-thirds of the children surveyed have TVs in their rooms and half have video game players.

About half said their families have no rules about TV watching.

“These kids are spending the equivalent of a full-time work week using media, plus overtime,” said Vicky Rideout, M.A., a Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President who directed the study.

“Anything that takes up that much space in their lives certainly deserves our full attention.”

Click Here For The Full Study

OTHER FINDINGS
(Source: Kaiser Family Foundation)

TIME SPENT WITH MEDIA AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

On average, young people spend 3:51 a day watching TV and videos (3:04 watching TV, 0:14 watching prerecorded TV, and 0:32 watching videos/DVDs), 1:44 listening to music, 1:02 using computers (0:48 online, 0:14 offline), 0:49 playing video games, 0:43 reading, and 0:25 watching movies.

They also spend an average of 2:17 a day hanging out with parents, 1:25 in physical activity, and 1:00 pursuing hobbies or other activities. Seventh – 12th graders spend an average of 2:16 hanging out with friends, 0:53 talking on the phone, 0:50 doing homework, and 0:32 doing chores.

The study did not find a correlation between time spent watching TV and time spent exercising, playing sports, or engaged in other types of physical activity. There was no statistically significant difference in the amount of time light, moderate, or heavy TV viewers reported spending in physical activity (1:25, 1:21, and 1:34, respectively).

COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET

Since 1999 there have been big changes in the percent of 8-18 year olds who have a computer at home (73% to 86%), have two or more computers at home (25% to 39%), have Internet access at home (47% to 74%), and go online for more than an hour in a typical day (5% to 22%).

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

A majority of young people from each of the major ethnic and socio-economic groups now has Internet access from home, but the divide between groups remains substantial. For example, 80% of White youth have Internet access at home, compared to 67% of Hispanics and 61% of African-Americans. Similarly, in a typical day 71% of children who go to school in higher income communities (>$50,000 a year) will use the Internet, compared to 57% of kids from middle ($35-50,000) and 54% of those from lower (<$35,000) income areas.

READING AND EDUCATION

Nearly three out of four (73%) 8-18 year-olds read for pleasure in a typical day, averaging 43 minutes a day. Some kids read more than others: those whose parents set and enforce rules about TV (0:16 more per day than those without rules), those without a TV in their bedroom (0:16 more), and those in homes where the TV is not left on most of the time whether anyone is watching or not (0:18 more).

Nearly one-third (30%) of young people say they either talk on the phone, instant message, watch TV, listen to music, or surf the Web for fun “most of the time” they’re doing homework.

Half (50%) of all young people say they have looked for health information online.

The study found no relationship between children’s reported grades and their use of TV or computers; but it did find that those who get the lowest grades (Cs and Ds or below) spend more time playing video games (0:21 more) and less time reading (0:17 less) than those with high grades (mostly As and Bs).

NEW MEDIA ENVIRONMENT

As new technologies have become available, young people have been quick to make use of them, changing how they use media as well as which media they use. For example, 64% have downloaded music from the Internet; 48% have streamed a radio station through the Internet; 66% use instant messaging; 39% have a cell phone; a third (34%) say they have a DVR such as TiVo in their homes; 32% have created a personal Web site or Web page; 18% have an MP3 player; and 13% have a hand held device that connects to the Internet.

While the amount of time spent watching TV has remained steady since 1999, the type of TV has changed. In any given day, 69% of all 8-18 year-olds watch cable, while 49% watch broadcast, a nearly exact reversal of the situation in 1999, when 69% watched broadcast and 50% watched cable.

CONTENTMENT

Most young people report being largely happy and well adjusted. But the 18% who are lowest on a scale of “contentedness” (i.e., are more likely to report being sad or unhappy, having few friends and getting into trouble a lot) spend more time using media than their most contented peers (9:44 v. 8:07 in total media exposure).

 


Carol T. Powers for The New York Times
Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, Joseph I. Lieberman, left, and Rick Santorum introduced a bill yesterday on media and child development.


Clinton assails ``epidemic'' of media sex and violence

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer   (Sen.Clinton PR)

March 9, 2005, 12:57 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Children are suffering from a "silent epidemic" of media sex and violence, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton argued Wednesday in calling for closer scrutiny by parents and government of what kids watch and play.

Speaking a day before her husband former president Bill Clinton was due to undergo a follow-up surgery for a heart bypass operation six months ago, the senator argued the public health was threatened by increasingly raw media content. Clinton, D-N.Y., focused her critique on the new media that some parents worry are a bad influence on children: violent video games,
the Internet, and sexually explicit television programs.

"This is a silent epidemic. We don't necessarily see the results immediately," Clinton said at a forum hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Over time, she argued, the effects of such media-driven desensitization teaches children "that it's OK to dis people because they're women or they're a different color or they're from a different place."

The senator took direct aim at one particular video game, Grand Theft Auto, a series popular among players and criticized by parents for its crime spree role-playing.

"They're playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them," said Clinton.

Clinton and fellow senators Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rick Santorum, R-Penn., want the government to closely study the impact of media on the development of young children.

She also urged television programmers to give viewers content warnings for programs after every commercial break, instead of the current practice of every half-hour.

As First Lady, Clinton pushed for better controls over what children see through the so-called V-chip law, which made it easier for parents keep inappropriate television shows away from young eyes.

The problem has gotten more complicated since then, she argued, due to the easy availability of salacious Internet sites, hard-edged video games, and all the other electronic devices now available to children.

"Parents worry their children will not grow up with the same values they did because of the overwhelming presence of the media," said Clinton.

A study released by the Kaiser Foundation Wednesday found a growing percentage of kids in the United States are "media multitasking"
from their rooms, by surfing the Web, instant messaging, and watching TV all at the same time.

Nearly a third of kids 8 to 18 say when they're doing schoolwork at home, they're often doing one or more of those activities at the same time.

On average, kids devoted six hours and 21 minutes a day to recreational media use, up just two minutes from 1999, the Kaiser study found.
That's more than 44 hours a week _ four more hours than a parent's typical work week.

On the Net:

Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
Hillary: More Media Guidance Needed for Parents
March 09, 2005
By Todd Shields
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000835132

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on Wednesday called for increased steps 
including prime-time public service announcements to help parents guide children 
in a media-saturated world.

Clinton, a possible Democratic presidential candidate, made her comments as the 
Kaiser Family Foundation released a research report showing children increasingly 
multitask, or use several forms of media at once, even as their overall media usage 
remains at roughly 6 1/2 hours a day.

TV use has stayed steady since 1999 at about three hours daily, but in 2004 two-thirds of young people watched cable TV on any given day, and just under half watched broadcast TV. That was the reverse of the pattern five years earlier, the foundation found in its report “Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds.”

Clinton in remarks at the foundation’s Washington offices expressed concern over violence in media particularly video games, and over commercials for unhealthy foods that she tied to increased childhood obesity.

Clinton called for:

-- a uniform content-based rating system that would apply across media such as TV 
and video games, with TV to show its programs’ ratings at least following every commercial break;

-- more public-service announcements about the effect media including TV has on children;

-- voluntary guidelines by the food industry on advertising unhealthy foods to children;

-- and more information for parents on using filters for Internet content.

Clinton said she and colleagues intended to introduce legislation later Tuesday calling for extensive federal study of electronic media’s effect on children, and on links between 
media and childhood obesity.

The Kaiser foundation study found no difference in levels of physical activity between heavy and light users of TV.

Kids have more electronics in bedrooms and often use two or more at once


Saturday, April 9, 2005 7:15 PM CDT
http://www.picayuneitem.com/articles/2005/04/10/news/16multimedia.txt

WASHINGTON (AP) - "Go to your room and do your homework" may not sound like such a bad idea to many children.

Nearly a third of kids 8 to 18 say when they're doing schoolwork at home, they're often talking on the phone, surfing the Web, instant messaging, watching TV or listening to music at the same time.

The finding is part of a Kaiser Family Foundation survey that showed what many parents already know - kids' rooms are turning into multimedia centers.

For instance, 54 percent of children's bedrooms had a VCR or DVD player last year, up from 36 percent in 1999, and 31 percent of kids had a computer in their room, up from 21 percent.

 

What effect so-called "media multitasking" has on the often fragile ability of kids to focus is unclear because detailed research is quite new, said Vicky Rideout, the foundation vice president who directed the study.

"We are not necessarily saying that kids spending more time with more media is a bad thing," Rideout said. "This is something all parents have to decide based on what age their kids are, how they are doing in school and the parents' own values."

Place some of the blame, or the praise, on the Internet and technology like instant messaging that have become widely used tools for education and entertainment, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

"The parental fear is that this can't be good by splitting kids' attention into so many segments," Rainie said. "Yet the argument in favor of it is you are more efficient, you can do things on the fly that you couldn't do before."

Kaiser surveyed more than 2,000 third through 12th graders between October 2003 and March 2004 about their recreational or non-school use of TV and videos, music, video games, computers, movies and print. The study included nearly 700 panelists who kept seven-day "media diaries."

On average, kids devoted six hours and 21 minutes a day to recreational media use, up just two minutes from 1999, the Kaiser study found. That's more than 44 hours a week, or four more hours than a parent's typical work week.

However, 26 percent of kids in 2004 said they "multitasked" when using any form of media, up from 16 percent five years earlier. That could mean a child downloading music over the Internet while talking on the phone, or chatting online while watching a favorite TV show.

Over the same period the proportion of kids' homes that have two or more computers jumped from 25 percent to 39 percent, and the proportion with Internet access in the home grew from 47 percent to 74 percent.

The percentage of kids who can surf the Web from the privacy of their own bedroom doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent. The proportion that watch cable or satellite TV from their own room grew from 29 percent to 37 percent.

In many homes, that means a child is constantly exposed to television, whether someone is actually watching or it is just on in the background.

Amy Bobb, 41, of Harrisburg, Pa., says her son Wesley, who will turn 8 in June, doesn't have a TV in his room and probably never will. Bobb also has a 3-year-old son. She gives Wesley a "ticket" to watch 30 minutes of television in the family room for every 30 minutes he spends reading a book.

"As they get older, I don't want them to disappear in the bedroom and watch television," she said.

On the Net:

Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/

Jessica Altman, the daughter of Kaiser Family Foundation head Drew Altman, has plenty of media
vying for her attention as she does her homework. More than a quarter of children age 8 to 18 multitask,
a new study reports. Photo Credit: Drew Altman -- Kaiser Family Foundation

Generation M: Natural Multitaskers
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., May 10, 2005 (CBS News)

When Nick Pasqua gets home from school, he eats, checks in with the folks and heads upstairs to his multimedia center, something previous generations called a bedroom.

As CBS News Correspondent Mika Brzezinski reports, the choices for this 13-year-old are endless: an Xbox, a GameCube, a television and videos.

For hours, Nick does his homework, listens to music and even watches TV, all while Instant Messaging - or IMing - his 13-year-old friend Andrew Kaufman. Andrew is IMing Nick back, talking on the phone and doing his social studies -- with a side of Dave Matthews blaring from his speakers.

"I'm a natural multitasker," says Andrew.

Call them Generation M, for media. A recent study found that kids between the ages of 8 and 18 spend more than 44 hours per week plugged into computers, cell phones, music and TV, often simultaneously. Kids' brains are on overdrive, compressing 60 hours of information into only 44.

Asked how many conversations he can have at once, Nick says: "I've had 20."

Two-thirds of kids have TVs in their bedrooms. Check out the Boydman household, which has eight televisions.

"Yeah, that's bad," says mom Lisa Boydman.

Eleven-year-old Alexie IMs while doing homework, as does her 17-year-old sister, Stefani. And when Stefani's not on the computer, she's watching TV while doing math homework.

"So people think I'm crazy, but it helps me concentrate better if the TV's on while I'm doing my homework," says Stefani.

She needs, she says, to be doing more than one thing at a time.

Professor Steven Mintz, the author of "A History of American Childhood," says Generation M is simply adapting to this multimedia world.

"They can cope with distraction in ways their parents cannot," he says.

But can they focus in the way their parents can?

"The days when kids sat in corners and read a book are over, and that's a real loss," says Mintz.

On the plus side, grades don't seem to be suffering.

So to anyone who would argue that all this multitasking is bad for kids, Nick says, "Yeah, they should talk to me."

Or better yet, text him.

Meet "Generation M"

By Kathy Meyering
http://www.towntimes.com/articles/2005/05/19/news/local_news/news18.txt

"M" stands for "media." According to a recent study performed by the Kaiser Family Foundation (www.kff.org), children and teens of this generation are spending an increasing amount of time using a plethora of technological toys and gadgets. A higher percentage now have computers in their bedrooms and often use more than one form of media at a time (for example, sending instant messages while watching television.) Overall, America's children aged 8-18 spend an average of six-and-a-half hours per day devoted to media use.

The Kaiser study examined the relationship of media use to the level of discontent in children. The study found that children who reported feeling sad, friendless or unhappy spent more time using media than their happier peers. The question that follows is whether the media use causes the problem or whether unhappy children spend larger amounts of time using computer games and television to assuage their pain.

According to a separate study, there has been a measured increase in the levels of depression and anxiety among our children. Some specialists believe there is a link between this trend and increased use of media by children.

While the amount of time is a cause for disquiet, the content of what children are exposed to is of even more concern. And while it is appropriate to worry about children viewing material that exposes them to questionable morality and bad language, the influence of media today is much more insidious than the sex, violence and drugs we try to control through filters and censors.

Marshall McLuhan, a writer who in 1964 coined the term "media" in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, contended that the media, particularly through commercials, had the effect of producing new perceptions about what we should and do desire, as well as why we believe these things will bring us happiness. People may remember his quote, "the medium is the message." If anyone doubts McLuhan's warning that "we become what we behold," it might be a good idea to reflect on the consuming desire of many average teenagers to be like Lebron James, Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears, a desire that has resulted in a culture of plastic surgery and drive-by shootings for tennis shoes. Many wrote McLuhan off as an over-reactive pop-culture commentator, but in fact his observations are being re-examined today by scientists concerned with the effects our increasing technological expansion on our culture.

In Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture, Dr. Juliet Schor of Boston College draws correlations between consumerism and the mental health of children. She explained her study to a roomful of educators at a recent conference at the University of Connecticut. A recognized expert and social analyst on consumerism, economics and family studies, Schor went underground to find out how advertisers have shifted their target population from adult to children consumers.

Schor discovered that children were being targeted in subliminal ways. For example, rather than presenting a commercial to promote a product, advertisers now pay to have their products appear within a program. A good example of this embedded advertising would be a sitcom character begging to own a particular brand of jeans.

We are all familiar with celebrity endorsements and other indirect and direct way to influence children's preferences. Children are particularly susceptible to hero worship, and using celebrities to sell a product activates a child's desire to emulate his or her object of inspiration. We therefore have kids begging parents for Lebron James Nikes.

Children may watch seemingly benign shows that feature friendly, caring characters. Not surprisingly, parents can find various forms of these characters on the shelves of stores. Even worse, and tied into the crisis of unhealthy eating in our society, the creatures on children's shows become trinkets they can get for free if their parents buy meals from certain fast-food restaurants.

"Children have become the epicenter of our consumer culture," Schor said. It is obvious that the marketing is working. Schor believes that the negative effects of advertising are damaging to children's bodies and souls, and she provided information to support her claim that we have seen a rise in materialistic values.

"There is no other country in the world where kids are more oriented to brand names," she said. Not being able to wear the most "in" styles often causes young people to feel unhappy and anxious. According to Schor, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse among young people have increased dramatically over the past twenty years.

While her study did not prove that media use caused these problems, Schor demonstrated how high levels of media use led to greater consumer involvement (wanting more "stuff"). She also found that poor attitudes towards parents increased with increased media use. Schor suggested the problem of parent-child relations could be related both to the content of what the children were exposed to (shows and commercials portraying parents as buffoons or tyrants) and the decrease in leisure time spent with parents. Both consumer involvement and poor parent-child relations were directly related to children reporting that they weren't happy. Boredom, headaches and stomachaches also increased with greater media use.

What does all this mean, and how can parents minimize the effects of media on their children? Schor told the teachers at the conference that parents are a key to combating this trend.

"The best thing you can do is turn off the TV," she said. "Kids need more outdoor time, less media exposure, and improved diets." She went on to show that in households where parental control of media use was high, the levels of anxiety and depression were lower.

If the medium is the message, parents needs to make sure their voices and values are heard through the din of messages their children are receiving. Whether the TV is turned off or a parent sits with his or her child to discuss what is being seen, the facts out there should serve as a wake-up call. Generation M needs grown-ups to help them uncover and challenge the insidious messages they receive each day while they sit at their computers and in front of their TVs.