The Littlest Digital Citizens
From Forbes.com
Common Sense Media has released a new report that looks at the 2024 media use of children ages 0 to 8, pointing to some of the challenges faced by those educating this generation.
Some of the findings may come as a surprise.
By age 2, 40% of children have their own tablet. By age 4, that percentage is 58%.
By age 8, one in four children have their own tablet.
The 2-t0-4 year old group uses screens for about two hours a day; the older children average about three and a half hours. Boys spend about a half an hour more than girls. The main use of screen time is for TV viewing, followed by gaming. Reading takes up 4% of the time, with homework accounting for just 1%.
Television/video viewing includes about one third streaming services (e.g. Netflix, Disney+) and one third longer videos on apps like Youtube. Short videos rose to 16% of viewing time in 2024. Only 6% of the viewing involved live TV.