TV, Computers A 'Full-Time' Activity For US Youth

**COUNTRYBUMPKIN** · 03-10-2005, 06:41 AM

TV, Computers A 'Full-Time'
Activity For US Youth
HealthTalk.ca
3-9-5

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using computers, watching television and listening to music are nearly a full-time activity for most U.S. children, with the average 8- to 18-year-old taking in 6 1/2 hours a day, a report published on Wednesday said.

The study by the Kaiser Family Foundation was one of the few national efforts to attempt to verify how much time children spend with television and other media. It was based on classroom questionnaires given to more than 2,000 U.S. schoolchildren in the third to 12th grades.

Just over half said their families had no rules on watching television. Sixty-eight percent said they had a television in their bedroom, half had a VCR or DVD player and 31 percent had a computer in the bedroom.

The youngest children watched the most television, with 8- to 10-year olds watching more than four hours a day on average, including videos. Overall the children watched three hours and 51 minutes of television on average.

However, the study found that children who reported spending the most time with their parents were also the ones who reported watching the most television. "Perhaps that's how kids and their parents spend time together," said the report, available on the Internet at http://www.kff.org/entmedia/7251.cfm.

There was also a link between heavy use of video games and low grades, and this held true to a lesser degree for watching television or listening to music.

Fears that electronic media would rob children of more old-fashioned skills seem unfounded, the report finds.

"In a typical day, nearly three out of four (73 percent) of young people report reading for pleasure," the report reads.

"On average, 8- to 18-year-olds spend about three-quarters of an hour a day reading," it added.

"Interestingly, those young people who spend the most time watching TV (the 20 percent who watch more than five hours a day) don't report spending any less time reading than other young people do; and those who spend the most time playing console video games spend more time reading than those who play fewer video games."

Children were also multitasking. The report found that 26 percent used two or more media at the same time, for example, using the computer and television together.

Over a seven-day week the children spent 6 1/2 hours a day with "media" such as television, video games, music and computers, two hours with their parents, just over an hour a day in physical exercise or play, 50 minutes doing homework and half an hour doing chores.

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**jlxian** · 03-10-2005, 11:37 AM

This is interesting.

We try to limit the amount of time our kids use the computer and watch tv. But if they watch tv with us, the time limit is forgotten (not sure why).

My dd loves to have her radio/CD player on, and would sleep with it on but I draw the line at that. I don't think there is anything wrong with her listening to the music, it just seems to me that listening to it in her sleep is sensory overload. I think your brain needs some quiet time.

Both my kids are avid, truly avid, readers and their reading time greatly outweighs the time they spend with electronic devices.

**COUNTRYBUMPKIN** · 03-10-2005, 01:37 PM

Originally posted by jlxian
This is interesting.

We try to limit the amount of time our kids use the computer and watch tv. But if they watch tv with us, the time limit is forgotten (not sure why).

My dd loves to have her radio/CD player on, and would sleep with it on but I draw the line at that. I don't think there is anything wrong with her listening to the music, it just seems to me that listening to it in her sleep is sensory overload. I think your brain needs some quiet time.

Both my kids are avid, truly avid, readers and their reading time greatly outweighs the time they spend with electronic devices.

Jean, it is wonderful that your children are avid readers! My girls are all avid readers as well. I will always remember those special weekly trips to our local library with my big wicker basket in tote. We used to fill it up with books for the dd's. Now when we go, they pick out several chapter books to read.

**jlxian** · 03-10-2005, 03:05 PM

Lynn, they would think they had died and gone to heaven if they could live in a bookstore. We should make more trips to the library, it would be cheaper!

Yes, it is wonderful they love to read -- I'm not sure how it turned out that way. Both dh and I love to read as well, so maybe that helped steer them in that direction.

**i.m.cheap** · 03-10-2005, 06:13 PM

We love the library! We go a minimum of once a week. Molly usually reads at least 100 pages a day, sometimes MUCH more if she is totally engrossed in a book or series. None of us watches much TV. DH kind of likes Law & Order, I like to catch the news once in a while.