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You probably won't be surprised to hear that a new report found that teens and tweens spend a lot of time watching TV, videos and movies, playing video games, reading, listening to music and checking social media, but you might be somewhat shocked (I was!) by just how much time.
On any given day, teens in the United States spend about nine hours using media for their enjoyment, according to the report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on helping children, parents and educators navigate the world of media and technology.
Let's
just put nine hours in context for a second. That's more time than
teens typically spend sleeping, and more time than they spend with their
parents and teachers. And the nine hours does not include time spent
using media at school or for their homework.
Tweens, identified as children 8 to 12, spend about six hours, on average, consuming media, the report found.
"I
think the sheer volume of media technology that kids are exposed to on a
daily basis is mind-boggling," said James Steyer, chief executive
officer and founder of Common Sense Media, in an interview.
"It just shows you that these kids live in
this massive 24/7 digital media technology world, and it's shaping
every aspect of their life. They spend far more time with media
technology than any other thing in their life. This is the dominant
intermediary in their life."
The
report, the first large-scale study to explore tweens and teens' use of
the full range of media, according to Common Sense Media, is based on a
national sample of more than 2,600 young people ages 8 to 18.
When
it comes to consuming media on screens, including laptops. smartphones
and tablets, teens, on average, spend more than six and a half hours on
screens and tweens more than four and a half hours, the report found.
"I
just think that it should be a complete wake-up call to every parent,
educator, policymaker, business person (and) tech industry person that
the reshaping of our media tech landscape is first and foremost
affecting young people's lives and reshaping childhood and adolescence,"
said Steyer, who's most recent book is "Talking Back to Facebook: The Common Sense Guide to Raising Kids in the Digital Age."
Here are a few more eye-opening highlights about the media habits of Generation Z, according to the report:
No. 1: What's wrong with multitasking?
If
teens are, on average, spending nine hours a day consuming media, it's
not such a surprise they're often doing it while doing their homework.
Half of teens say they "often" or "sometimes" use social media or watch
TV while doing their homework. Some 60% say they text and more than 75%
say they listen to music while working on schoolwork at home.
And
of the kids who multitask, most don't think it effects the quality of
their work. Nearly two-thirds say watching TV or texting makes no
difference and more than 50% feel the same way when it comes to social
media.
"Teenagers think that
multitasking during homework doesn't affect their ability to learn and
... we know it does," said Steyer, citing studies such as one at Stanford,
which found dramatic differences in cognitive control and the ability
to process information between heavy media multitaskers and light media
multitaskers.
"It's completely obvious that you can't multitask and be as effective and competent."
No. 2: Boys choose Xbox, Girls Instagram
There are definite gender differences when it comes to media habits of teens and tweens.
Some
62% of teen boys say they enjoy playing video games "a lot" versus 20%
of girls. When it comes to using social media, 44% of teen girls say
they enjoy it "a lot" versus 29% for boys. Girls, on average, spend
about 40 minutes more on social networks than boys, with girls spending
about an hour and a half a day on social media and boys a little under
an hour.
"I
definitely think it shows that girls use media and technology today for
more social interaction and boys are much more likely to be gamers,
including addicted gamers," said Steyer of Common Sense Media. "There
are real differences between boys and girls so that's a message to
parents and educators, you have to be aware of the differences."
No. 3: The digital equality gap is real
While
ours kids are growing up in a 24/7 digital world, children in lower
income households have less access to technology than kids from
wealthier families. Only 54% of teens in households making less than
$35,000 a year have a laptop in their home versus 92% of teens in
households making $100,000 a year or more.
"There's
an access gap that whether you like the impact of media or technology
on our kids' lives and there are pros and cons, the truth is poor kids
have far less access than wealthy kids do and that's just wrong
especially when Internet platforms and digital platforms are so key to
everything from school to getting a job to connecting with other
people," said Steyer. "So closing the digital inequality gap is a huge
public-policy issue."
No. 4: Guess what? TV and music still tops
Despite
all the new media tweens and teens have at their disposal -- everything
from Instagram to YouTube to Xbox, tweens and teens still rank watching
TV and listening to music as the activities they enjoy "a lot" and do
every day, ahead of playing video games and mobile games, watching
online videos and using social media. In fact, only 10% of teens ranked
social media as their favorite activity.
"I think the bottom line there is it's a
utility now," said Steyer referring to social media. "Increasingly kids
are realizing that Facebook and Instagram and SnapChat, they go there
and ... they feel they have to go there but they don't love it and
that's good. In my opinion, that's good."
No. 5: 'It's a mobile world'
Consider
these stats: 53% of tweens -- kids 8 to 12 -- have their own tablet (my
kids will try to use this as ammunition to get a tablet of their own!),
and 67% of teens have their own smartphones. Mobile devices account for
41% of all screen time for tweens and 46% for teens.
"It's a mobile world so these kids live on
mobile platforms," said Steyer. "I mean if you look at the numbers,
it's clear that you have this clear transformation of teens and tweens'
lives through digital and mobile platforms."
The
implications of this digital transformation are huge for tweens and
teens, educators, policymakers and parents. For one, living and
communicating via mobile devices gets in the way of empathy, said
Steyer.
Texting is so much less
empathetic than having a conversation in person and looking somebody in
the eye and having physical or at least a verbal presence with them, he
said.
Add in the issues of digital
addiction and the attention and distraction implications that come with
mobile devices, and "empathy is really, really under siege," he said.
"That's
a huge issue in terms of society and human relationships and how young
people are evolving in a social, emotional context." he added, saying
more research is needed.
Common Sense Media's next study, due out next year, is about the impact of digital addiction and distraction.
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