I'm going to devote the next few columns to technology. If you're my age, you've seen technology transform the world in so many ways, we can't even start to count them or truly understand the full extent and significance of that transformation. Our children, of course, are growing up as digital natives. While some of us let our children use iPads as toddlers and give them cell phones while still in elementary school, many of us worry about children's use of technology. This is a multi-faceted issue with plenty of food for thought. I'm going to start with a study of American tweens' (8-12 year-olds) and teens' (13-18 year-olds) media use conducted by Common Sense Media. A non-profit organization, Common Sense Media probably represents the premier group working in the field of children and media.
The Common Sense Media study surveyed a statistically representative sample of 2,658 American children ages 8 to 18 last February and March. The study aimed to identify what media activities young people participate in most often and how much time they spend so engaged; what devices they use and for what activities; differences in media engagement according to age, gender, race, income and parental education levels; the degree of multi-tasking while doing homework and beliefs about its impact; and use of screen media for homework.
The study produced eleven "key findings."
- 1.Tweens (8-12 year-olds) spend an average of almost six hours a day and teenagers almost nine hours on entertainment media (as distinct from media used for school or homework). The media in question includes watching television, movies, and videos; playing video/computer/mobile games; listening to music; using social media; reading; and using digital devices for other purposes (such as "browsing websites, video-chatting, or creating digital art or music.") Young people do not consume all this media in digital form; for example, they primarily read print materials and they might listen to music on the radio.
- 2.Tweens and teenagers engage in a wide variety of media activities. The range is great enough that we can make few generalizations about young people's media use except that there is a lot of it.
- 3.Boys and girls differ significantly in their media interests and uses.
- 4.Despite the explosion in options, tweens and teens watch TV and listen to music more than any other activities.
- 5.Both age groups are very mobile in their media habits.
- 6.Traditional activities of watching television and listening to music outpace social media even among teenagers.
- 7.Young people use digital media for a wide variety of purposes including "reading, watching, playing, listening, communicating, and creating" (however, despite the creative opportunities, most activity is passive).
- 8.A significant "digital equality gap" exists in device ownership (computers, tablets and smartphones) between higher income ($100,000 plus family income) and lower income ($35,000 or less) young people.
- 9.Parents worry more about what kind of media their children consume than screen time.
- 10.Many teenagers engage in media activities while doing homework and few believe it negatively impacts performance. Indeed, half of teenagers think listening to music aids work.
- 11.Depending on family income, parental educational levels, and racial and ethnic background, young people spend significantly different amounts of time engaged in media activities. "In general, black youth and children from lower socioeconomic groups tend to spend more time with media than Hispanic, white, or higher-SES [socio-economic status] youth do."
Drilling down into the data tells us even more about young people's media use and reveals the varied landscape of that use. The researchers identified six tween user categories: Video Gamers, Social Networkers, Mobile Gamers, Readers (yes, readers), Heavy Viewers, and Light Users. Interestingly, the plurality of tweens, 27%, fall into the Light User category; of those, 46% are girls. These kids do less of everything than their peers including getting daily physical activity. They spend a little more than an hour watching TV daily as compared to the tween average of 2:26 and their overall media use is only 2:16 hours as compared to a tween average of 5:55. Not surprisingly, 68% of Video Gamers, who constitute 23% of tweens, are boys. Tweens also have a category of Mobile Gamers (14%), and here again girls represent a minority, but a large one at 46%. By contrast, of the 15% of tweens who fall into the Social Networkers category, girls represent 70%. They spend 1:43 daily on social media as compared to a tween average of 16 minutes. Sixty percent of them own smartphones, way more than the tween average of 24%. This seems to enable them to consume a lot of media as they outpace their peers in total media use at just minutes under 10 hours a day! Girls also represent the majority, in both cases 57%, of Readers and Heavy Viewers, 11% and 10% of all tweens respectively. Heavy viewers actually have lower overall screen and media usage than Video Gamers and Social Networkers, but they watch way more TV, DVD's and videos than their peers, an average 5:08 hours per day versus the 2:26 tween average. Moreover, except for listening to music which they do on average for 50 minutes a day, they consume very little other media. Sixty-four percent of them, by far the highest of any group, have TV's in their bedrooms and 52% live in houses where the TV is on all or most of the time. Readers, on the other hand, report the least amount of screen time, but spend an average of 1:35 hours reading, an amount no other group comes anywhere near. They do watch an hour of TV a day, and listen to music for 36 minutes, but otherwise consume very little media. Of all groups, they are the least likely to have a TV in their bedrooms, to live in a household where they TV is on all or most of the time, or to own their own tablets or smartphones. At 62%, they have the highest percentage of parents with college degrees and they are also the most likely to be physically active daily (43%).
The teen data reveals changes in media use as young people grow up. Like tweens, the plurality of teens, 32%, fall into the Light Users category, and also like tweens, girls represent less than the majority at 47%. However, they still consume plenty of media with an average of 3:40 hours of total media time and 2:26 hours of screen time compared to teen averages of 8:56 and 6:40, respectively. Teens gamers demonstrated different behavior patterns, leading to one category called Gamers/Computer Users who represent 20% of all teens, 70% of whom are boys. Besides playing games they also use their computers for other activities such as surfing the web and listening to music. Like tweens, the majority (51%) of Heavy Viewers, who represent 26% of all teens, are girls. They consume media at by far the highest rate, 13:20 hours of screen time and 16:24 hours of all forms! However, they spread their media activities more widely than their tween counterparts, watching TV, DVD's, and videos 6:24 hours daily, listening to music for 2:40 hours, and spending 2:09 hours on social media. Like the tween Heavy Users, they are the most likely to have TV's in their bedrooms and to live in a house where the TV is on all or most of the time. The overall percentage of Social Networkers drops to 10% among teens, but girls still represent a significant majority at 66%. Spending on average 7:03 hours with their screens and 9:34 in overall media use, they distribute their activities among social networking (3:17 hours), by far the highest of teens, listening to music (2:16), and watching TV, DVD's and videos (1:34). At 84%, like their tween friends, they are the most likely to own a smartphone. Finally, the percentage of Readers increases slightly to 13% among teens, and the percentage of girls also increases, to 62%. They, too, are the most likely to have parents with a college degree (45%). They spend 1:31 hours reading, a few minutes less than tween Readers, but way more than any other teen group whose average is only 28 minutes. They spend about equal time listening to music as reading, and they also watch 1:22 hours of TV, DVD's and videos.
What about texting you ask? Girls text more than boys, 69 versus 39 texts on average daily among young people who text, which is 56% of teen girls and 50% of boys.
In general, our young people consume a lot of media, with tween and teen girls and boys enjoying similar amounts of screen time, but girls using more media overall (36 minutes more for tweens and 44 minutes for teens). Girls listen to music more than boys, play games less, and are more likely to read for pleasure and spend time on social media. Overall, I was surprised at both tweens' and teens' strong preferences for watching TV and listening to music. I was also surprised at social media's relative lack of prominence. Ultimately, however, the data makes me wonder, and I imagine it does you too, how does our students' media use compare to their peers?