The Amazing Media Habits Of 8-18 Year Olds

This is in part because kids aren't afraid of technology, and, in part, because kids haven't spent years getting use to anything else.

So if you want to get a sense of where the world's media habits are headed, it makes sense to watch what kids are doing.

The Kaiser Family Foundation did just that in a comprehensive survey released in January.  Kaiser surveyed more than 2,000 families, and turned up all sorts of interesting information about the media habits of 8-18 year olds.

Some key points:

    * Kids consume a hell of a lot of media--and more all the time.  Basically, if kids are awake, they're consuming media.  And, increasingly, they're consuming multiple forms of media at the same time.

    * Kids' print media consumption is tiny and falling.

    * Kids' digital media consumption is going through the roof.

No big surprise there.  What is a surprise is how little parents seem to care about this.  (Or, alternatively, how much parents encourage this media consumption by consuming a huge amount of media themselves.)

    * In 2/3 of households, TVs are on during meals

    * In 75% of households, TVs are on when no one is watching them.

    * More than 70% of kids have TVs in their bedrooms

    * Only 1/3 of households have media-consumption rules

No surprise, more media is consumed in households in which TVs are always on, where there are no rules, and where kids have TVs in their bedrooms.

And, no surprise, kids who consume the most media get the worst grades (is this cause or effect?)

It's a long presentation, but it's awesome¹.

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