Trends in Media Use

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released their study of the use of media among 8 to 18 year olds. The figures are simply astounding. Just to highlight a few of the key findings, overall media use was up to – on average – 7 hours and 38 minutes per day while total media exposure was at 10 hours 45 minutes per day. Many media categories saw increases in use, but music/audio was the biggest category gainer over the 2004-2009 time period. One of the most interesting findings of the study was that more than one media is often being consumed at any given time. Kids are listening to music, streaming Internet video and watching television at the same time. As you might guess, the foundation reports an inverse relationship between media use and academic performance. Read the report and adjust your understanding of today’s reality.

photo from rashdan