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Minority Youth Spend 13 Hours A Day On Media
A new study reports that minority youth spend a whopping 13 hours a day on various forms of media. That’s four hours more than their white counterparts.
The report is the first to sort media use statistics based on race or ethnicity. They found kids from minority backgrounds watching more TV, playing more video games, listening to more music and spending more time with computers and mobile devices.
The one thing white kids and minorities did at exactly the same rate: reading. Both groups read for pleasure about half an hour a day.
The report doesn’t say why they believe minority children are spending more time on media. It does stress that everyone is using too much media, regardless of race or ethnicity. USA Today offers up one expert’s opinion on what might be going on here:
“Children may turn to media if they feel their neighborhoods lack safe places to play or if their parents have especially demanding jobs that prevent engagement,” says Frederick Zimmerman, chair of the department of Health Services at UCLA School of Public Health.
I know my kids media use is about 100 percent the result of me being distracted or busy with work, so I totally believe there’s credibility to at least the second half of this theory.
How much media to do your kids consume? What do you think drives them to choose electronic media over other activities?
Photo: Rev Dan Catt
Prevent Technology Overload: 7 Ways to Reduce Your Kid’s Tech Use!
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2 Comments
Andrea commented on Jun 09 11 at 10:07 pmNow that it is summer time, my kids spend approximately zero hours a day in front of a screen. But I am home fulltime, we live in an incredibly kid friendly and welcoming neighbourhood and we don’t have a TV in the main living areas of our home. We don’t have commercial television at all! I wonder how many of these kids are the product of single parent homes, left alone for hours every day to fend for themselves? I’ll bet it’s quite a few.
Caitie commented on Jun 10 11 at 1:02 pmI am home full time and my child is two so it is very easy to navigate him towards other activities that are not TV shows. But then again we do play Jump start games on our computer and we watch a lot of learning shows, We love Word World, Super Why and Leapfrog movies and of course Yo Gabba Gabba for our dance time! We probably spend about 1-3 hours a day using tv or other media. I think its important to help steer your children in the direction of active or artistic or creative (or anything) activities, other then TV. But then again tv can be beneficial. I do love the sleepy times at night when i can cuddle with my boy and watch some little bear, its great bonding and tv shows can teach our children about our society and social situations. For the most part i think it is all your own, everyone is different and so our needs and desires will differ. Do what you feel is right for your family.
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