Media Use

Did you know?

• 65% of all online American youth, ages 12-17 use online social networking sites (Lenhart, 2009).
  
  
• Complete strangers have contacted 43% of social-networking teens online and 31% of social networking teens have “friends” on their social network profile who they have never personally met (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2007).
  
  
• Average number of “friends” online is 83 (Norton Online Living Report, 2009).
  
  
• Parents surveyed in the U.S. think their children are online 18 hours a month, but in reality, kids report spending 42 hours a month online.  And, 41% of U.S. teens ages 13-17 years old agree that their parent have no idea what they are looking at online (Norton Online Living Report, 2009).
  
  
• 55% of U.S. online children ages 8-17 have made friends online (Norton Online Living Report, 2009).
  
  
• On average, only a third of parents worldwide set parental controls and monitor their children's online activities (Norton Online Living Report, 2009).

• The average American child grows up in a home with an average of 3.6 CD or tape players, 3.5 TVs, 3.3 radios, 2.9 VCRs/DVD players, 2.1 video game consoles, and 1.5 computers (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• 83% of kids, eight to eighteen, have at least one video game player in their home, 31% have 3 or more video game players, and 49% have video game players in their bedrooms (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• Children, ages 8 to 18, spend more time (44.5 hours per week- 61/2 hours daily) in front of computer, television, and game screens than any other activity in their lives except sleeping. On average they spent 49 minutes per day on video games (console or handheld) and 19 minutes on computer games (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• A national survey found that 92% of children, ages 2-17, play video and computer games (National Institute on Media and the Family, 2001).
  
  
• 97% of teens play video or computer games (Pew Internet Project, 2009)
  
  
• 98.2% of U.S. households own a television set. They also found that the average household owns 2.83 television sets (Television Bureau of Advertising, 2008.)
  
  
• More than 80% of children live in homes that have cable or satellite TV service (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• 1 in 7 juveniles will be solicited online (National Public Radio, 2009).
  
  
• 31% of kids have high-speed Internet access at home (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• Teens report use of the Internet:
  
  
• 54%  read blogs, 30% blog themselves
  
  
• 33% swap files
  
  
• 50-60% post photos
  
  
• 75% view videos online
  
  
• Almost 75% of online teens have created online content
  
  
• 26% have created own webpage
  
  
• 68% instant message
  (Pew Internet Project, 2009)
  
  
• 42% of children surveyed (ages 10 -17) report having seen a pornographic site on the Internet (Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2007).
  
  
• Kids (8-18), on average, listen to 1¾ hours of music every day, with older teens (15-18) listening for 2 ½ hours a day (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• One-third of kids (12-14) own a cell phone (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2005).
  
  
• 75% of teens own a cell phone (Pew Internet Project, 2009)
  
  
• 20% of teens have their own PDAs or Blackberries (Pew Internet Project, 2009)
  
  
• 74% of teens have an MP3 player (Pew Internet Project, 2009)
  
  
• American teenagers send and receive an average of 2,272 text messages per month (New York Times, 2009).
  
  
• Half of U.S. kids agree that online messaging and communication make it harder for children today to learn to write well (Norton Online Living Report, 2009).
  
  
• Almost two-thirds of kids have a portable CD, tape, or MP3 player (65%), and half (55%) have a handheld video game player (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005).
  
  
• About 1.4 billion people around the world read a daily newspaper, with the U.S. ranking No. 31 in the world for circulation (Young, 2008).
  
  
• Of the typical American adults 54% watch local TV news, 34% watch Cable TV news, 28% watch nightly network news, 23% watch Network morning news, 36% listened to the Radio yesterday, 40% read a newspaper yesterday, and 31% use online news 3 or more days per week (The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2006).
  
  
• 80% of Internet users ages 17 and older consider the Internet to be an important source of information for them, up from 66% in 2006, and higher than television (6%), radio (63%), and newspapers (63%) (Annenberg School for Communication,  2008).

What's Happening
Today's youth are wired for media use more than ever before. The televisions in their bedrooms are most likely hooked to cable or linked to DVD players and video game machines. The Internet is reached via a nearby computer or over a cable hookup.

Two areas of technology are emerging to change the way we and our children use media.

• Interactive television with the convergence of television and Internet use
  
  
• The revolution in wireless communication (cell phone and Internet access)

With the advent of digital television, our sets are able to receive signals over a greater bandwidth. Digital TV sets the stage for a more interactive use of television. Viewer control over content increases. Television will become a place to do shopping, play games, interact, connect with friends, find specific information, and select movies and programs to watch. Interactive programs switch between programs to the Internet to present more information about what is being watched and invite people to interact. The viewer can click on an alternative video stream, music or commentary about a particular subject or interest. The potential for commercial use is unlimited. Viewers will be able to buy any item they see in a program by merely clicking on it, viewing purchasing information, and buying it.

Kids quickly become content creators rather than just consumers. From remixing music and videos to creating their own presence on the Internet in web pages and blogs, teens are finding new expressions for their voice.

Wireless communication will bring the world of information to users no matter where they are. Cell phone use now connecting to the Internet brings instant access. The ramifications are only beginning to be felt, for commercial, business, and personal use.

Sources

• Annenberg School for Communication, Center for the Digital Future. 2008 Digital Future Project. Available at: http://www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/2008-Digital-Future-Report-Final-Release.pdf (last visited 6/2009).
• Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire (2007, February). Results of survey by Janis Wolak, JD; Kimberly Mitchell, PhD; David Finkelhor, PhD, “Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users,” Pediatrics,119:2, 247-257. Available online at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/119/2/247  (last visited 6/2009).
• Kaiser Family Foundation (2005, March). Generation M: Media in the lives of eight to eighteen year olds. Available online at: http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia030905pkg.cfm (last visited 05/28/09).
• Lenhart, Amanda (2005, July 27). Teens and technology. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2005/PIP_Teens_Tech_July2005web.pdf (accessed 6/2009).
• Lenhart, Amanda (2009, May 23). It’s personal: similarities and differences in online social network use between teens and adults. PEW Internet and American Life Project. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/19-Similarities-and-Differences-in-Online-Social-Network-Use.aspx (last visited 6/2009).
• National Institute on Media and the Family (2001). Sixth annual video and computer game report card. Accessed at: http://www.mediafamily.org/research/report_vgrc_2001-2.shtml (last visited 05/28/09).
• National Public Radio (2000). NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy school poll: Kids & technology survey, 2000. Accessed at: http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/poll/technology/ (last visited 05/28/09).
• National Public Radio (2009). Truth squad: The threat of online predators. Accessed at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103819119 (last visited 05/28/09).
• New York Times (2009, May 25). Article by Katie Hafner: Texting may be taking a toll. Available Online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/26teen.html?_r=1 (last visited 06/02/09).
• Norton Online Living Report, 2009. Symantec Corporation. Accessed at: http://www.nortononlineliving.com/documents/NOLR_Report_09.pdf (last visited 05/29/09).
• Pew Internet & American Life Project (2007, December). Teens and social media. Accessed at: http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2007/PIP_Teens_Social_Media_Final.pdf (last visited 05/28/09).
• Pew Internet Project (2009, January 9). Teens and the Internet. Lee Rainie, head researcher. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/teens-and-the-internet?type=presentation (last visited 6/2009).
• Pew Research Center for the People & the Press (2006, July 30). Survey Reports: Online papers modestly boost newspaper readership: Maturing internet news audience broader than deep. Available online at: http://people-press.org/report/282/online-papers-modestly-boost-newspaper-readership (last visited 06/02/09).
• Television Bureau of Advertising (2008). Media trends track: TV basics: TV sets per household. Accessed at: http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/mediatrendstrack/tvbasics/07_5_TV_Per_HH.asp (last visited 05/28/09).

Last revised: June 2009