Digital media use up among children; television watching down

photo by coba at flickr.com, via Creative Commons

A national study commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children ages 8-18 have increased their recreational media use even though television watching declined. Driving the increase were mobile media use and games. Average recreational use is a jaw-dropping 7 hours 38 minutes per day. If multitasking is counted, it’s the equivalent of 10 hours and 45 minutes. Note that non-recreational use of media, such as research for a homework assignment, is not included, so totals could be even higher.

The study is a survey of 2,002 children ages 8 – 18 in a national probability sample.

• Read the press release summarizing results.
• Read the full report.
• See additional resources supporting the study.