In the 1990s, many parents were concerned about how much time their children could spend watching TV. In recent years, parents are also being concerned about the time they could spend browsing the web. And now, in 2010, these two tendencies have been combined and, besides that, a new variety of electronic gadgets has been added, including mobile phones, video game consoles, digital cameras, and netbooks. Those gadgets catch the children’s attention often for several hours a day. Specifically, a study has established that, on an average, children use these gadgets for 8 hours every day.
The study that reached these conclusions was carried out by the Kaiser Family Foundation between October 2008 and May 2009 by interviewing a sample of children and teenagers between 8 to 18 years of age. The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit organization that makes reports and researches regarding the health issues in North America.
The study points out that, in United States, the children and teenagers spend an average of 75 minutes a day playing video games, 90 minutes a day using the computer, 90 minutes a day watching TV, 150 minutes a day using a media player, and only 38 minutes a day reading a book.
Mobile phones are one of the most used gadgets by children and teenagers, since these gadgets allow not only to keep in touch with friends, but also thanks to additional multimedia features, they can be utilized to browse the Internet, play games, record and play videos, take and browse pictures, and listen to music.
Victoria Rideout, who is one of the authors of this study, explained that the time the respondents spend using electronic devices is a shocking statistic because “it’s more than seven and a half hours a day, seven days a week… That’s more than 53 hours a week — more time than grownups spend in a full-time job”. The study also establishes that “media use goes up dramatically when kids hit 11″.
As for the use of Internet, the study points out that YouTube and Facebook are the most visited sites by children and teenagers, while 3 out of 4 respondents have an active profile on Facebook. This social network has been a source of controversy regarding the risk for underages, since they can expose their private information; besides, some criminals or potential criminals could contact them by using deceitful methods or lies. This is a really serious concern and, for that reason, parents should have enough supervision on the use of Internet in their houses.
To know more about this study, please click here
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