SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 3 (UPI) — Without considering assignments during school or homework, teenagers in the United States spend an average of nine hours per day interacting with digital media.
Tweens — children between the ages of 8 and 12 — spend about six hours a day using digital media, seemingly ramping up to spending as much time staring at screens as their older siblings, according to a new survey conducted by Common Sense Media.
The survey also found differences in the way children of different race, class and gender use media, and a significant equality gap between lower-income children and their higher-income peers.
Parents and experts alike have raised concerns about the amount of time children and teenagers spend looking at screens — phones, tablets, and computers, as well as televisions — as digital media becomes more pervasive in people’s lives.
The lack of accurate research on the topic as people in general become more device-centric is also a concern because the effect of staring at screens constantly is relatively unknown.
“Where is the research? We’re conducting the biggest experiment on our kids — the digital transition — without research,” Jim Steyer, executive director of Common Sense Media, told the Washington Post. “Everything is digital. We are now in the true emergence of digital natives. That has enormous implications for anyone who cares about media, technology and children.”
Overall, researchers found teenagers spend an average of nine hours per day using all media — that is, either watching or interacting with something on a screen, or passively listening to or reading some type of media. Black teenagers consumed the most media each day, averaging more than 11 hours, while white teenagers average eight hours and 27 minutes of media time and Hispanic teens use media eight hours and 51 minutes per day.
On any given day, 34 percent of tweens and 23 percent of teens spend two hours or less with screen media, and 11 percent of tweens and 26 percent of teens spend more than eight hours in front of screens. On average, tweens stare at screens for 4.5 hours per day and teens do so for more than 6.5 hours.
Among tweens, 62 percent watch television every day, while 66 percent of teens listen to music every day. Less than half of all teens use social media every day, just 45 percent, lagging behind consumption of video or audio media.
Children in lower-income families have less access to devices, researchers reported, based on 54 percent of lower-income teens having a laptop in their home, compared to 92 percent of higher-income teens.
“There are a lot of ways media use can be educational and beneficial for our kids, from learning apps and web sites to creating content,” Steyer said in a press release. “The media use census provides parents, educators and the media industry with an excellent overview of what kids are doing today and how we can make the most of the media and technology in their lives.”
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