Kids Are Media-Saturated TOO

The Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2005 sends this sobering release:

Today’s young people (those 8-18) lead “saturated media lives,” spending nearly 6 ½ hours a day with media. However, because of simultaneous media usage, they actually cram more than 8 hours of media into a day.

As reported by the Center For Media Research, television and music are the big players among today’s youth, with those surveyed spending an average of three hours a day watching TV, and about 1 ¾ hours a day listening to the radio or to CDs, tapes, or MP3 players.

Interactive media come next, with young people averaging just over one hour a day on the computer outside of schoolwork, and just under 50 minutes a day (playing video games.

Reading is close behind, on books, magazines, or newspapers for something other than schoolwork. Here are the dominant media used by young people in a typical day, ranked by the percentage of 8-18 year-olds who use them:

• Watch TV (81%)
• Listen to the radio (74%)
• Listen to CD/tape/MP3 (68%)
• Use a computer (54%)
• Read a magazine (47%)
• Go online (47%)
• Read a book (46%)
• Play console video games (41%)
• Watch videos (39%)
• Play handheld video games (35%)

At least we're in second place, but it's close!