• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 28, 2005

Traditionally, data about children’s media use have been in the domain of marketers and media companies, the result of proprietary surveys conducted for commercial purposes and not available to the broader public. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released a reports which they describe as “publicly available, reliable, and objective data documenting the patterns and trends of media use among young people.

The report, based on a national sample of 3rd- to 12thgraders (8–18 years old), conducted via anonymous written questionnaires of about 40 minutes in length, and a subset who completed a detailed seven-day diary of their media use,  focuses in detail on media use the prior day.

Some of the key findings and brief conclusions from the survey include the following material:

The report concludes that young people today live media saturated lives, spending an average of nearly 6 1/2 hours a day with media. In a week, that amount is the equivalent of a full-time job.  In addition, by using more than one medium at a time, they are actually exposed to the equivalent of 81/2 hours a day of media content, packed into less than 61/2 hours of time.

TV and music are the dominant youth media, with young people spending an average of three hours a day watching TV, and about 13/4 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.

In many young people’s homes, the TV is a constant companion. Two-thirds live in homes where the TV is usually on during meals, and half live in homes where the TV is left on most of the time, whether anyone is watching it or not.

See the complete executive summary and charts here.