New Study Shows Youth Plugged In Most of the Day 157
An anonymous reader writes "The amount of time youngsters are spending on the web has ballooned to exceed the average adult's full working week, according to a new study. A few years ago, the same researchers thought that teens and tweens were consuming about as much media as possible in the hours available. But now they've have found a way to pack in even more. Young people now devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes to daily media use, or about 53 hours a week according to Kaiser Family Foundation findings released today."
Is this really a surprise? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:For those too lazy (Score:5, Insightful)
Kids... (Score:4, Insightful)
No wonder they can't find time to spell properly.
Your typical teenager probably doesn't even use a pen, and the majority of their communication would be on a device with a built-in spell checker. IT is as though they go out of their way to spell like an idiot. Is it really that much more efficient to type "Im going 2 da park"?
As technology gets smarter, we as a society will be getting dumber. We are setting ourselves up to be completely pwnd by Skynet.
Re:I'm Shocked! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:For those too lazy (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm guessing torrented episodes also count, as would Hulu and so on...
So, what else would you have them do? (Score:4, Insightful)
An individual spends a certain amount of time asleep, a certain amount at school or working (or housekeeping, or whatever), a certain amount eating, washing(!), travelling and all the other miscelleanea of living. Then they have some time spare - is that such a surprise?
All this study does is tell those people who believe studies what those individuals spend their time doing. Would you prefer they spend that time drinking, instead?
Oh yes, that thing about multi-tasking media. All that tells us is how unfulfilling sources like TV are - people don't actually *watch* it, they just have it on in the background (while doing something more interesting) just in case something worthy of their attention does happen. That's all TV is today - whatever age you are.
Re:more reading, less doing. (Score:4, Insightful)
It certainly sounds dramatic, but I think there may be a positive note to add, because where a decade ago children engaged mostly in passively being entertained, the trend now is that they take part, ie are active. A recent study has shown that the main factor explaining why boys in particular don't seem to learn English very well, found that the trick is to get them write more; and that while writing essays is seen as boring and pointless, blogging is seen as cool and meaningful.
Re:So, what else would you have them do? (Score:3, Insightful)
don't complain american is full of dumb fat lazy people when the kids of today spend almost a full working day glued to a monitor, with their brain in park.
Re:For those too lazy (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:For those too lazy (Score:3, Insightful)
It's culture, not medium. (Score:3, Insightful)
Quall (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So, what else would you have them do? (Score:1, Insightful)
doing something productive
Such as what? The way I see it, we (the species) are going to die right here on planet Earth. We accelerate that eventuality via our rampant productivity by increasing the number of people, buildings, automobiles and decreasing the amount of arable land, clean air and water, energy, and the number of other species. Furthermore, the Multimedia-Industrial Complex says this is good for us: production and consumption is the end-all be-all of existence. People don't want to move into outer space, nor explore inner space, nor feed the hungry, heal the sick, or engage in any noble enterprise. Work, consume, work, consume. So, enjoy your brain-dead fat-ass zombies -- they are the end-product of our society.
Kids... (Score:2, Insightful)