Cover from KFF Report
A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation confirms what most parents already know: that our kids are literally tethered to the Internet or other means of consuming media the better part of the day.
The report, which has been the talk of the blogosphere since it was released yesterday, found that children and young adults aged 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day on their computers, in front of a television, or accessing media on a smart phone or mobile device.
That number doesn’t include talking or texting on a cell phone (another two hours a day). And if you calculate in multitasking – i.e., surfing the web while listening to music – the amount of media content taken in comes to nearly 11 hours total per day.
The shocking part is that when the same study was conducted five years ago, its authors concluded that media use could not possibly grow further from the six and a half hours clocked in 2004.
Donald Roberts, one of the researchers and a professor at Stanford University told The New York Times that “I remember writing a paragraph saying we’ve hit a ceiling on media use, since there just aren’t enough hours in the day to increase the time.â€
Roberts and crew were apparently wrong.
The study’s results come as no surprise to my wife and I. All three of our children have their own computers, which are constantly on even while “studying.†The older two also have an iPhone and iPod Touch and know where all the open WiFi hotspots are in town. If they have a long bus ride, they load up the latest episodes of How I Met Your Mother or Dexter before leaving in the morning.
While the amount of time teenagers spend online or watching TV or movies is surprisingly high, it’s not like we didn’t do the same when we were younger – at least as much as we could with the technology of the times. I distinctly remember my parents complaining that I couldn’t possibly study properly with music or the TV on. But my grades came out fine.
That’s not necessarily the case today, though. The grades of 47 percent of the heaviest media users in the report were C or lower. Those heavy media users were also more likely to report that they were bored or sad, that they got into trouble, didn’t get along well with their parents, or were not happy at school.
A number of years ago – before the advent of all the latest hi-tech toys – our kids had become hopelessly addicted to the tube. We took the radical step of going “cold turkey†and forbidding television entirely. The kids were mortified at first, but tell us today that it was one of the best things we did as parents.
But their TV watching is now just as high – if not higher – than when we first detoxed; it’s simply not in the living room anymore. We have thought about taking their laptops away, but the kids have moaned that they need them for schoolwork – which is true.
And then there is the role model of their parents. Both my wife and I are in front of our respective computers constantly. And we multitask too. I am constantly flitting between Firefox, to Word for an article I’m writing, to splicing in a few stolen minutes of The Office or Flash Forward – all the while listening to Internet radio or some of the 100 GB of music on our shared home server.
So how can we criticize our children when their parents are equally guilty? The one thing that ruffles a teenager’s feathers more than anything else is perceived hypocrisy.
And there have been certain benefits to the always-on society we’ve created. When my son was visiting Poland with his high school class, he found a WiFi connection at the Auschwitz concentration camp and Skyped me from there, bringing me into his experience without paying a penny.
Ultimately, there’s no turning back. Our kids aren’t going to unplug and this is probably just an interim stage on the way to even more insidious connectivity. Someday, we’ll probably be able to pipe the Internet directly into our brains.
Indeed, that future may not be so far off. An Australian company is already working on an interface to bring sight to the blind by implanting a chip that bypasses the optical nerve. It’s just a hop skip and a jump to an entirely wireless mind (can you say Cylon?)
What are we going to do then? Threaten to remove their batteries? If Apple has anything to do with it, the power supply will be hard wired in – like all of Apple’s iPod products. Need a new chip? Just replace your head.
Some more findings from the Kaiser study:
- 76% of 8 to 18-year-olds have MP3 players (up from 18% in 2004).
- 64% say the TV is usually on during meals and 45% say the TV is left on “most of the time†even if no one is watching.
- 71% have a TV in their bedroom; 50% have a console video game player
- The amount of time spent watching regularly scheduled TV declined by 25 minutes a day from 2004. But factoring in TV on the web and cell phones, total TV consumption increased from 3:51 hours to 4:29 hours a day.
- 74% say they have a profile on a social networking site.
- About half of young people say they use media either “most†(31%) or “some†(25%) of the time while they’re doing their homework
- Respondents to the survey spend an average of 1:35 hours a day sending or receiving texts.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Brian,
It’s me!! I regularly read your blogs and I enjoy them.
This one in particular, got my attention as it is an issue for us as well.
I disagree with you that you cannot unplug. All lectures I have attended in the past which discuss computer/internet use have said that researchers have come to the conclusion that excessive use is definately not healthy (physically, emotionally, or socially) for kids, teenagers and adults. In view of research done, it is strongly recommended by professionals to remove computers from bedrooms and to place limits on computer/internet use. Up until 6 months ago, we only had one computer in the house (this was on purpose). Although we had constant arguing between our kids regarding computer use and who’s turn is next, we figured that the kids would be forced to do non computer stuff when the computer was taken by someone else in the family. Only recently we bought our second computer but we have installed a program that only allows each child to be on the computer 3 hours a day and only until 9.45pm. This way, we have monitored the amount of use and the time frame of use…. I personally would rather they read a book in bed (and they do!)… Also, both our computers are in a shared areas of the house (another recommendation from professionals).
So in my humble opinion, if one thinks excessive computer use is unhealthy, then there are definate ways to curb use….
I would also like to add that my husband and I are computer addicts as well but to set an example to our kids, we take turns with our two computers equally with them or more accurately probably a lot less 🙁
But this is a compromise I am happy to make so that my kids continue to live the real life and not the cyber one!
Cyber Regards from Yavne, Jeanette
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