According to a survey released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, American youths are spending far more time consuming media on a daily basis than just five years ago. The foundation’s latest survey of more than 2,000 children between the ages of eight and 18 found that daily media consumption averaged seven hours and 38 minutes across a typical day in 2009 — equivalent to more than 53 hours a week.
That is an hour and 17 minutes more than in 2004, the last time the foundation conducted a similar survey. Researchers said the dramatic uptick is driven in large part by ready access to smartphones, iPods, handheld gaming machines, and other portable gadgets.
“The bottom line is that all these advances in media technologies are making it even easier for young people to spend more and more time with media,” said foundation Vice President Victoria Rideout, the report’s author. “It’s more important than ever that researchers, policy-makers and parents stay on top of the impact it’s having on their lives.”
Media Multitasking
The percentage of young children and teenagers with cellular phones has grown over the past five years from 39 percent to 66 percent. Young people now spend an average of 49 minutes a day listening to music, playing games, or watching TV on cell phones — far more than the 33 minutes they typically spend talking on their handsets.
What’s more, ownership of iPods and other MP3 players has risen from 18 percent to 76 percent among children. Researchers said this is significant now that these devices have evolved into multimedia machines.
TV still reigns supreme among the media platforms available to the nation’s youth, with consumption averaging four hours and 29 minutes — up by 38 minutes from 2004. However, the amount of time that children spend watching…