Starting young

According to a surprising new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, young people spend more and more of their day with various forms of media.  Whether it is cell phones, computers, or TV, kids and teenagers are increasingly doing what is called “media multi-tasking”- talking on their cell while watching YouTube on their laptop and flipping channels on the TV.

It seems that, increasingly, the TV serves as a baby-sitter, especially in Black and Latino homes.  The study notes that, “Black children spend nearly 6 hours and Hispanics just under 5 1/2 hours, compared to roughly 3 1/2 hours a day for White youth (in front of the TV).”  And sadly, though not surprisingly, the study shows that there is a correlation between heavy media use and poor grades.  From the study: “About half (47%) of heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly Cs or lower), compared to about a quarter (23%) of light users.”  While news of kids’ increasing use of media of all forms is heartening for advertisers, especially those targeting minorities, the high number of hours spent daily with media suggests that time spent with computers and TV is time not spent studying.