Common Sense Media is a nonprofit that researches and reviews, for parents and educators, the impact of media and technology on children. (I’ve used the free lessons from their Digital Citizenship Program when creating library programs about cyber safety for kids.) This week, they released a new report that updates their findings from 2015, showing dramatic rises in smartphone ownership among children and teens, and substantial increases in time spent watching online videos. Check out the infographic summarizing their findings, or read the new “Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2019” report. News coverage is linked below.
- More Than Half Of U.S. Children Now Own A Smartphone By Age 11 [Morning Edition] “A majority of kids are getting their first phones younger and younger. In 2015, the last time they did this survey, most kids had a phone by age 14. And now it’s just over half have their first phone by age 11. And about 1 in 5 have one by the age of 8 years old.”
- New Research Finds YouTube Videos Beat Out TV and Video Games as Entertainment of Choice for Tweens and Teens [PR Newswire] “Among teens, only listening to music beat out watching online videos, with playing video games, watching TV, and using social media trailing behind. And reading lags way behind.”
- Homework Gets More Digital for Teens and Tweens [EdSurge] “On average lower-income teens spend less time than higher-income teens using computers for homework (34 vs. 55 minutes per day) and more time using smartphones to get assignments done (21 vs. 12 minutes per day).”
- Screen time is good for you—maybe [Technology Review] “Przybylski says his analysis suggests that children who are using a digital device—a television, video game console, tablet, laptop, smartphone, or any other gadget with a screen—have better social and emotional skills than kids who don’t use this technology.”
From the Ohio Web Library:
- Heller, Rafael. “The Data on Children’s Media Use: An Interview with Michael Robb.” Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 99, no. 6, Mar. 2018, p. 20.
- Dorau, Bethany Groff. “Smartphones and Children: Overview.” Points of View: Smartphones & Children, Dec. 2018, p. 1.
- Bond, Bradley J. “Following Your ‘Friend’: Social Media and the Strength of Adolescents’ Parasocial Relationships with Media Personae.” CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, vol. 19, no. 11, Nov. 2016, pp. 656–660.
