Screen Time Trends

- The average age children began watching television was 2.8 years in 1961.
  • Today it is 9 months.
- By 3 months old, 40% of children regularly consume electronic media.  By 24 months, 90%.

- The average age at which children begin using consumer electronic devices declined from 8.1 years in 2005 to 6.7 years in 2007 and is accelerating.

Screen Time Trends1 for kids under 6:
  • 52% of kids under 1 watched daily TV (30% watched videos), 2.5 hours/day
  • 60% of 1 year-olds watched TV; 47% videos; 3 hours/day
  • 71% of  2 year-olds watched TV; 53% videos; 3+ hours/day
  • Does not include prevalent background television
Screen Time Trends2 for kids 8-18:
  • Average screen time grew to 7.5 hrs/day in 2009 vs 6.5 in 2005
  • Including “multitasking” with multiple devices, the average was 11 hours/day 
  • Kids spend an extra 2 hours on mobile devices: 1.5 hours texting, 0.5 hrs talking
  • Media consumption grew faster 2004-2009 than 1999-2004 due to mobile devices
  • More than 70% of kids had a TV in their bedroom
  • More than 50% had Internet access in their bedroom
  • 66% had a cell phone
  • Mobile devices and bedroom TV make it harder for parents to monitor viewing
  • Heaviest users were Black, Hispanic, and Tweens (11-14)
  • Heaviest users reported more boredom, sadness, and discipline, family, and school problems.
  • The above may underestimate actual viewing by as much as 100% given parental under-reporting and viewing in child care settings.

- Curl Up With A Good Remote: TV is the top after-school activity chosen by children ages 8 to 18.
 
- Yawn, Gabba Gabba!  Children spend more time with electronic media than any discretionary activity except for sleep. 
 
- Teletubbies: Most food advertisements viewed by American children are of poor nutritional content, with fast food the dominant category.
 
Video Games:

The U.S. video game market2 reached $21 billion in sales in 2008, one-third of monthly entertainment spending in the U.S.
  • Education, recreation, and time playing together are top reasons for buying kids video games.
  • 21% of kids report parents set rules about which video games they can play.
  • 17% report parents checking warning labels or ratings.
  • 12% report playing video games they know their parents don't want them playing.
  • 36% of kids 10-19 play video games regularly, 80% boys, 20% girls.
  • 97% of adolescents play video games regularly.
  • 1/3 of parents play video games with their children.
  • Increasing marketing to younger children: Wii Lego®,

     Wii Go, Diego, Go!®, Wii Baby and Me®.

  • Virtual Childhood: Rise of virtual pets (ZhuZhu Pets®, Webkinz®) and experiences (e.g. Crayola Art Studio®/Fireworks Spectacular®, Diego Rain Forest Adventure®)



Footnotes:
  1. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003.
  2. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2009.
  3. NPD Group, Inc., 2009.
  4. All other citations available upon request.