Common Sense Media Examines Digital Media Use Among Young Children

The nonprofit organization Common Sense Media (CSM) has issued a report
titled Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America that documents how
infants, toddlers and young children are exposed to media “on everything
from television to mobile devices to apps.” Billed as the first national research
study to examine young children’s use of iPads and other new devices “along
with older media platforms such as television, computers and books,” the
report concludes that digital media “has become a regular part of the media
diet of children ages 0 to 8, with four in 10 2- to 4-year olds and half (52%) of
5- to 8-year-olds using smartphones, video iPods, iPads or similar devices.”

Working on CSM’s behalf, the research consultant Knowledge Networks
“used a probability-based online panel designed to be representative of
the United States” to survey 1,384 parents from May 27-June 15, 2011.
Building on previous studies conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the
report distinguishes between digital media, such as “console video games,
computers, cell phones, handheld video game players, video iPods, and iPads
or other tablet devices,” and mobile media, which includes “cell phones, video
iPods, and iPads or other tablet devices.”

According to an October 25, 2011, CMS press release, the survey results evidently indicated that (i) “42% of children under 8 years old have a TV in their bedrooms”; (ii) 52% “of all 0- to 8-year-olds have access to a new mobile device such as a smartphone, video iPod, or iPad/tablet”; and (iii) 38% of children this age “have used one of these devices, including 10% of 0- to 1-year-olds, 39% of 2- to 4-year-olds, and more than half (52%) of 5- to 8-year-olds.” The report also noted that, in a typical day, “0- to 1-year-olds spend more than twice as much time watching television and DVDs (53 minutes) as they do reading or being read to (23 minutes),” with some young children already learning to media multitask.

“Much of the focus in recent years has been on the explosion of media use
among teenagers, whereas our study examines media use among young
children during crucial developmental years,” said CMS CEO James Steyer.
“Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed their position
that children under age 2 should not engage in any screen time, yet the data
shows infants and toddlers are growing up surrounded by screens. This use
data is an important first step toward understanding how the prevalence of
media and technology affects the development of our youngest kids.”