Kids consuming nearly 8 hours of media per day, study says

Photo by Flickr user Jennie Faber

Wow. A new study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation finds that kids aged 8-18 spend an average of 7.5 hours per day consuming media. From an ABC News article:

"The average kid sponges in 2.5 hours of music each day, almost five hours of TV and movies, three hours of Internet and video games, and just 38 minutes of old-fashioned reading, according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

That adds up to 75 hours of media every week. And that doesn't even include the hour and a half spent text messaging each day, and the half hour kids talk on the cell phone."

And what sort of effect does this have on children?

From an article on PCMag.com:

What the survey found was that heavy media users not only self-reported lower grades then self-described "light" users, but that they also reported being less happy as well. For example, 51 percent of heavy media users reported that they received A's and B's in school, compared to 66 percent of light users. Thirty-two percent of heavy media users reported that they were often sad or unhappy, versus 22 percent of light media users. Not surprisingly, those that lived in households where parents attempted to limit media consumption consumed less media.

My kids aren't in this age bracket; they're 6 and 3. We do limit their screen time — those AAP guidelines are still fresh in my mind from their toddler years.

But with the addition of a Wii to our household, our restrictions have become more difficult to enforce. An hour spent on the Wii means no TV or computer that day, and that's a hard concept for a three-year-old to understand. Lots of screaming and crying usually ensues, and on my weak days I sometimes cave.

This study is a good reminder to hold my ground.

What do you think? Do you limit your child's access to media? Leave a comment, or take the poll!

poll by twiigs.com