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."
This stat is rather curious (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:For those too lazy (Score:3, Interesting)
TFS contradicts when it says kids are spending X hours on *the web*. Only 1.5 hrs /day on the computer. Or are kids surfing the web on TVs now? I had thought internet TV use was quite limited.
When you consider how much time in school is actual class time, I'm sure this means more TV than classroom time. And if these numbers are averages I hate to imagine the kids at the far end of the curve.
more reading, less doing. (Score:5, Interesting)
What concerns me most is that the next generation might spend more time reading about something and not have the time to actually DO them. I find the information overload very annoying already at work. Mostly emails. And I feel myself slowly being trained into ASKING for the info rather than experimenting and have your own observation in things.
Don't know how to put it in better words.
Re:That's all? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm Shocked! (Score:3, Interesting)
/. readers already know this. For 10 years i have almost always laughed at the fact we see it here before they, (The uninformed public) do.
Look at the network news and see the slide.
Re:For those too lazy (Score:4, Interesting)
Although the article does contain some overtones of negativity, I think this quote does really present the key importance of the issue:
"When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it's affecting them -- for good and bad," Drew Altman, president and chief executive of the foundation.
Here are my thoughts on each item:
TV 4:29 - Almost entirely negative, I suspect; surely the overwhelming advertisements alone cancel out any benefits the few educational shows.
Music/Audio 2:31 - As a musician, I have a hard time knocking this. Premature deafness from blasting those headphones is no good, though.
Computer 1:29 - As a computer scientist, well, let's just say I'm about 10x this. It can range from really good (research) to horrible (4chan).
Video Games 1:13 - I think this is a healthy dose. Games with physical activity and (gasp) sunlight are better, but this could be worse.
Print 0:38 - I'm surprised this number even exists. I assume the majority of it is beneficial in some ways -- exposure to articulating an idea in writing, if nothing else.
Movies 0:25 - Movies are usually a bit more thought provoking than TV. A slight negative here, but it's still a small number.
Overall, I do believe there is reason for concern, but not outright panic. Let the psychologists do their work and we will only understand the effects of this better.
Re:more reading, less doing. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Kids... (Score:3, Interesting)
So what if they're not as fast/accurate with a pen as you were at their age? Do/will they need to be?
The one thing I hope they don't drop is books. Hell, even audiobooks. They get plenty of chance to just parse words when they're online, but what they're probably less used to is consuming large, contiguous streams of information.
Our kids (Score:3, Interesting)
Playstation: 1-2 hours
Computer (mostly web): 1-2 hours
MP3 & suchlike: less than 1 hour
Reading (overlaps with MP3, and includes homework): 2-4 hours
The Playstation games are nonviolent or relatively low violence (Afrika, LittleBigPlanet, a few Ratchet&Clank). Reading time does not include PC time. They also get 2-4 hours of outside playing or at various hobby activities. This is the routine that we have right now, based largely on the kids' preferences.
It seems that the kids in the survey don't have much time left over for hobbies or being outside, or even for reading books...
Re:For those too lazy (Score:4, Interesting)
How is this news? In an average day, excluding the 7.5 hours I spend in front of a computer at work, I still manage to pack in a lot of "media"-time.
TV: 5
Music/Audio: 1.5 - 2
Computer: 7
Video Games: 1
Print: <1 - 2 (I do reading stints, where I consume much more, but on average..)
Movies: 0.3
Of course, my multitasking factor is probably higher than these lame kids'. Laptop is always on, always on the table in front of me so I can chat, surf, perhaps program a little. The TV is for the most part on as well, except that part of the evening where the most interesting program is Oprah. I read on the bus to and from work while listening to music, and naturally "TV Games" pretty much has to overlap 100% with either "Computer" or "TV" (disregarding portables, which I don't own).
News? Hardly.News to the Slashdot crowd..? Definitely not. Scaremongering for technophobic parents? Yes.
Re:Your taxes at work (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't blame the teachers either.
A good administration would get rid of bad teachers.
A bad administration would harass good teachers and keep the bad ones.
Within limits, money is not the issue; however, shared vision is.
Re:Your taxes at work (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you considered that it is possible that we pay more than we ever did in the past, and yet schools wouldn't have money to buy paper? It is called too much money on overhead.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for using technology in education. However, far too much money goes on toys that don't really get well-utilized. The cost of one computer would supply paper for an entire school. The problem with technology is that it is very expensive to maintain. It can be worth it if it is well-utilized, but if you just use it as a typewriter and to pull up the odd webpage it isn't worth having (at least not at school - in the home is a different matter).
To be worthwhile technology has to be well-integrated into the curriculum and deliver something that simply wasn't being delivered before.
I'm actually not going to join the chorus whining about teacher salaries. On average they are probably fine. The problem is that they're almost entirely based on seniority and there is a huge range - I'd make new teachers make only moderately less than retiring ones, and use a pay model more reminiscent of private enterprise. That will probably help to attract more qualified teachers.
The whole summer off bit seems really odd as well. Why exactly do we need to take two months or more off every year? Why not just have a continuous cycle? By all means fit in more outdoor activities and all that in the summer, but there is no reason that we have to take the time off.
There are a lot of reforms that could help fix schools, but the focus is too much on placating special interests and not providing eduction. I don't see that changing anytime soon...