media and generation m^2

// January 22nd, 2010 // media, technology

The other day The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation released several reports regarding the media use of children and teens between the ages of 8 and 18. Although I am not surprised to see that media use has increased, I am a little surprised at the amount of time that is spent on media in general. The study found that on any typical day, the average 8-18 year-old packs 10.75 hours worth of media content into 7.5 hours.

The main areas that were highlighted in a summary of the report were:
Mobile media driving increased consumption
Parents and media rules
Media in the home
Heavy media users report getting lower grades
Black and Hispanic children spend far more time with media than White children do
Big changes in TV
Popular new activities like social networking also contribute to increased media use
Types of media kids consume
High levels of media multitasking

It’s interesting how much of an increase there is once children get to the tween, 11-14 year-old age group. This report didn’t even include texting, which would bring the amount of time up another hour or so for that age group. I also found the gap between gender pretty interesting. The report found that girls spend more time reading and networking than boys, while boys spend more time than girls on video game usage and visiting video websites. I find it rather disappointing that roughly 30% of children have any type of rules regarding the time they can spend with different types of media. One thing’s for sure, marketing departments should have a field day with this report.

Report: Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8 to 18 Year Olds, KFF
Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically From 5 Years Ago, KFF
Generation M2: Understanding the Multimedia Teen, ReadWriteWeb
Media Consumption Way Up for 8-18 Year-Olds From 5 Years Ago, Game Informer

Also, if you’re interested in media consumption, WIRED came up with an interesting chart in the article, Balance Your Media Diet, as part of their How to Behave: New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans article, which I also featured here.


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2 Responses to “media and generation m^2”

  1. media and generation m^2 | digisqueaks | Drakz Free Online Service says:
    January 22, 2010 at 7:44 pm

    [...] here: media and generation m^2 | digisqueaks Share and [...]

  2. tom sheepandgoats says:
    February 6, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    I remember when Paul McCartney was said to have died in a car crash, and the other Beatles covered it up with a look-alike, and campus radio spoke of nothing else for days on end. My roommate urged me (unsuccessfully) to install a reverse gear on my turntable so as to play all Beatle records backwards, looking for hidden clues such as were to be found in someof their songs. The mainstream media was oblivious to the story, notwithstanding that the Beatles were the most popular rock group to date. They didn’t ignore substantive news to break in breathlessly with update after update, as they would today, as they recently did with….say…the Tiger Woods sex escapades. I recall only one grumbling opinion piece, after several days had elapsed, to the effect that the Beatles…those unpredictable kids… may have fooled us all with their practical joke, but it was a sick laugh they must be having.

    I was upset about it. I wanted more airtime for our generation. But now I see it was a protection, from adults who still felt a collective sense of responsibility toward the younger generation. Or maybe they were just fuddy-duddys out of touch with changing times, but nonetheless, it was a protection. Let kids have their own generation, let them cultivate their own interests, but not to the exclusion of all else. Construct your society so that doesn’t happen. Link them with ideas of the past, ideas that have roots, ideas that have endured over time.

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