Child Exposure to Violence, in Media

Child Exposure to Media

Media, particularly screen media (television, computers, videogames), are virtually ubiquitous in 21st-century households. Researchers estimate that among U.S. households with children, television penetration exceeds 98%, while 80% of such households have computers, and nearly half have videogame consoles (in families of older children, this rises to 83%). Studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation show that children under age 6 and 8- to 18-year-olds are becoming increasingly media saturated, as new media technologies become layered atop one another in the home. Moreover, almost all television households are now multiset households, and even young children may have televisions in their bedrooms-18% of those under age 2, 39% of 3- to 4-year-olds, and more than two thirds of 8- to 18-year-olds. Though older children begin to supplant some of the time they devote to television to using other media, particularly computers, TV remains the dominant, consensus family medium. Two indicia of the degree of media saturation are that nearly a third of all children under age 6 live in homes where a television is on nearly all day (among kids under age 6, 1 hour and 57 minutes per day is spent using all screen media, just under 1 hour listening to music, and 40 minutes reading or being read to) and that children ages 8 to 18 average 8 hours and 33 minutes exposed to all media; allowing for “multitasking” exposure to more than one medium at a time, 8- to 18-year-olds average 6 hours, 21 minutes per day using mass media (of this, 43 minutes are spent on print media; 1 hour, 2 minutes on computers; 3 hours, 4 minutes on television; 49 minutes on videogames; and 1 hour, 11 minutes on movies on DVD or video). Among this group, half say a TV is usually on in the home, even if no one is watching.

While large majorities of parents of young children say they have rules about media use, newer media and in-bedroom televisions are frequently beyond the close scrutiny of parents. Among 8- to 18-year-olds, slightly fewer than half report any family rules governing TV watching and, of these, only an eighth report rules about which shows a child may or may not watch.

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