Common Sense Media released a study today about media use of children from 0 to 8 years of age.  The research is an extension of research originally conducted by Kaiser; the study appears to be quite thorough (for example, this study also contacted people who don’t have landlines and only use cell phones). The last Kaiser study done with this age group, from 0-6, was in 2005, and they were able to do some comparisons to see how much things had changed.  After all, back then, Youtube had just begun, the iPhone and iPad were not invented, and no one knew what an app was.
Turns out, a lot of people still don’t know what an app is.  Surprising?  Not when you consider that the participants in this survey research represented the entire nation, at all SES and ethnicities.  The fact is that many Americans do not own a smart phone and even though the digital divide is no longer a chasm, it still exists.  1/3 of the respondents reported that they did not know what an app was!

Other surprising and sometimes disappointing findings were:

• 30% of children under 2 have a television in their bedroom
• Parents read less to their young children since 2005, a full 10 minutes less.
• Interestingly, African American families read more to their children than White and             Hispanic parents – an additional 10 minutes a day.
• Kids this age watch as much Sponge Bob as educational TV

For more about this study, you can find it here: 0-8 Media Use