Todays kids good at media multi-tasking

Mar 9 2005

The increasing amount of time using "new media" like computers, the Internet and video games spent by children and teenagers is not affecting the time they spend with "old" media like TV, print and music, according to a new study released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Youngsters are using multi media at any one time (for example, going online while watching TV), and increasing amounts of media content is being packed into the same amount of time each day. The study, Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds, examined media use among a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 school children from grade 3 to 12, who completed detailed questionnaires, including nearly 700 self-selected participants who also maintained seven-day media diaries.

The study measured recreational (non-school) use of TV and videos, music, video games, computers, movies, and print and found that the total amount of media content young people are exposed to each day has increased by more than an hour over the past five years with most of the increase coming from video games and computers.The amount of time young people spend "media multi-tasking" has increased and the actual number of hours devoted to media use has remained steady. For example, one in four say they often, or sometimes go online while watching TV to do something related to the show they are watching. Anywhere from a quarter to a third of kids say they are using another media while watching TV.

"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."

Important issues about supervision and exposure to inappropriate material are now more of a concern as children's bedrooms have increasingly become multi-media centers. Most kids in the 8 to 18 group have a TV in their room, many also have a VCR or DVD player,cable or satellite TV, a computer, and Internet access. Many say the TV is on all or most of the time.

Many parents have strong concerns about children's exposure to media, but more than half of all 8-18 year olds say their families have no rules about TV watching. The study indicates that kids with TV rules that are enforced most of the time spend two hours less daily media exposure than those from homes without rules.

"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."

The study, released at a forum included a keynote speech by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and a roundtable discussion featuring FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, Hip Hop artist Common, and top executives from the video game and television industries. The discussion was moderated by CNN's Jeff Greenfield.