Generation M [superscript 2]: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-Year-Olds (original) (raw)
Media Viewing Habits of Teenagers
Children at an early age are influenced by movies, television, books and the Internet. Mass media has a great influence on a child's overall development right from early age. Children are more exposed to media than any other play-time activity. Television watching is associated with energy intake, physical activity, and obesity among children. Since, adolescents form the most vulnerable and habit-forming stage of life, a cross-sectional study was conducted with the following objectives: (i) to assess media viewing habits of teenagers; (ii) to explore what kind of media, teenagers mostly use? and (iii) to elicit how much time teenagers spent on different kinds of media? This cross-sectional study adopted stratified random sampling procedure having 3 types of economic groups " viz., lower-income (poor families), middle-income (middle-class families) and higher income (rich families). A questionnaire was administered to the teenagers of the above mentioned economic groups. Of the total 517 subjects, 253 were boys and 264 were girls. Teenagers " are exposed to multiple media as they are not confined to a single kind of media to fulfill their information/ entertainment needs. Television, Internet, print media, and the movies are mostly consumed by teenagers with not so much of a difference between them. Overall, television is mostly viewed by 76.5% teenagers closely followed by newspapers/ magazines (73.5%). Movies are also most favoured media to almost seventy percent of teenagers; and about two-third (65.5%) of teenagers love browsing Internet, with radio as the least (35.5%) sought after media. Digital divide is significantly wider between different economic-groups. Usage of internet by girls of poor families is not even half of the percentage of girls of rich families. Among girls of low-income families, listening to radio is more popular than usage of Internet.
Beyond effects: Adolescents as active media users
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1995
This is an overview of the special issue, "Adolescents Uses of Media." The articles in the special issue are described as taking the uses and gratifications approach, which emphasizes that people make choices about the media they consume and that people differ in their interpretations of media content. The common goal of the articles is to integrate this approach with developmental perspectives on adolescence. Common themes include adolescents as active media users, the developmental context of adolescence, the cultural context of media use, and integrative and innovative methodological approaches.
Adolescent Electronic Media Use: Instead of Doing What?
International Journal of Group Tensions, 2000
Adolescents like to watch TV and listen to the radio, even on school days, but their day contains, like for all other people, only 24 hours. What do those who use electronic media frequently neglect? Data from 14- and 16-year-old adolescents from 12 European countries and from the USA (EURONET sample) were analyzed (N = 3,250). The correlations between time
Characteristics associated with media use in early adolescence
Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 2014
This study aimed to identify socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics associated with media use in early adolescence. The sample was comprised of 1,680 adolescents (884 girls and 796 boys) aged 13, attending private and public schools in Porto, Portugal, during 2003/2004. Adolescents completed questionnaires pertaining to demographic, social and behavioral characteristics, including the time spent watching television and playing computer games on week and weekend days. Logistic and proportional ordinal regressions showed that attending public schools, sleeping less time, using tobacco and presenting low levels of physical activity were factors associated with high media use. In boys living with one of their parents as well as living with younger and older parents were also associated with high media use. Besides the association with less healthier behaviours, we also found higher media use among adolescents from lower social classes and less structured families, which may increa...
Media usage profile of adolescents in varied economic background
Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2021
Media plays an important role in social development and teenagers are the future of the society. This study made an attempt to elicit responses from teenagers on media content by projecting questions such as; what kind of content are teenagers viewing/reading mostly? What are their favourite programmes; Do they search for any information about nutrition and health related matters? What is the primary source of information for teenagers about health and nutrition?; and how do they spend their leisure-time? This cross-sectional study adopted stratified random sampling from three types of economic groups using a self-administered questionnaire as a tool for data collection. Results revealed that parents and Internet are serving as primary source of health and nutrition information for teenagers. Teenagers of poor families' have low access to Internet, which manifests the glaring 'digital divide'. Contrary to this, boys of poor families watching porn visuals is significantly highest compared to all strata of boys and girls, which clearly indicates the misuse of Internet by boys of poor families. This study recommends that parents, the media, health practitioners and policy makers, among others look into possible ways of increasing the benefits and reducing the harm that media can have on the development of children and adolescents.
Predicting children's media use in the USA: Differences in cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2009
The purpose of this paper is to examine the predictors of children's media use in the USA, comparing cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Data come from Waves 1 and 2 of the Child Development Supplement (CDS-I; CDS-II), a nationally representative sample of American children aged 0-12 in 1997 and 5-18 in 2002. Twenty-four hour time use diaries are used to assess children's time spent with media (television, video games, computers, and reading). Predictors examined include sociodemographics, neighbourhood quality, family factors, and other media use. Ordinary least square (OLS) multiple regressions were performed by three age groups (preschoolers, early school age, and preadolescence). The findings suggest that neighbourhood quality, parental limits and family conflict are significant predictors of children's media use within time or over time, but the significance depends on the type of media and child's developmental stage. In addition, children's television viewing and reading habits are formed early in life and reinforced over time. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence for the effect of early contextual factors on the life course of children's media use from a developmental perspective.
7 Teens and the new media environment Challenges and opportunities
2010
Researchers interested in the impact of media on the adolescent audience often use content analysis as a first step in assessing the kinds of messages available in mainstream media. These content-analytical studies typically sample from prime-time television programs, blockbuster movies, or top-selling video games. But do these samples accurately reflect the media content to which teens are exposed? The sheer increase in the number of media types and information sources available to teen audiences has opened up a wide variety of options to choose from. This proliferation of media technologies has brought about dramatic changes to when, where, and how adolescents access media content. In this chapter, we provide an overview of our efforts to assess teens’ exposure to media content and the challenges we have encountered in developing our measures. Specifically, we present data from an exploratory study which illustrates that adolescents are growing up in a multiple-media environment, ...
Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology, 2019
Media consuption is a term in "sociology" that describes the individuals that organize information on the basis of the use of produced goods, rather than on the axis of services and production. Mediums that fall under the scope of media consumption include radio, television, computer, mobile phones, newspaper, and magazine formats. The usage patterns and applications of these tools are internet, music, movies, games, etc. Among children between the ages of 5 and 8, those who do not use computers represent a small percentage of 10%. Even within this age group, a large majority know how to use computers. More than half of children under the age of 8 have played games and watched videos at least once via a smartphone, iPod, iPad or similar device. According to a US study, children spend about 9 hours a day on the screen. Besides this, despite all the options, listening to music and watching television for children and young people continue to be a favorite activity. This paper further explores the impact of media consumption on children's development.
Patterns of European youngsters' daily use of media
The mediatisation of young people daily lives constitutes a significant subject due to the expressive use of media in their daily routines. In this article, we resort to a representative sample of 3609 online respondents aged between 14 and 30 years old from nine European countries (and Portugal), in order to perceive the impact new (and " old ") media have in these youngsters daily media consumption activities. The results of this online survey show complementary uses between networked and traditional media, but also highlight a gradual substitution of " old " by " new " networked individualized media when leisure and news-related activities are at stake.
Children and Adolescents and Digital Media
Pediatrics, 2016
Today’s children and adolescents are immersed in both traditional and new forms of digital media. Research on traditional media, such as television, has identified health concerns and negative outcomes that correlate with the duration and content of viewing. Over the past decade, the use of digital media, including interactive and social media, has grown, and research evidence suggests that these newer media offer both benefits and risks to the health of children and teenagers. Evidence-based benefits identified from the use of digital and social media include early learning, exposure to new ideas and knowledge, increased opportunities for social contact and support, and new opportunities to access health promotion messages and information. Risks of such media include negative health effects on sleep, attention, and learning; a higher incidence of obesity and depression; exposure to inaccurate, inappropriate, or unsafe content and contacts; and compromised privacy and confidentialit...
New Media’s Positive and Negative Impacts on Youth
2020
Contemporary living is marked by powerful presence and all present use of new technologies. We might boldly state that people might not function well without new media. We heedlessly witness large part of contemporary adolescent’s social and emotional development occurring while on the Internet and on cell phones. Many parents and caregivers today use technology incredibly well and feel comfortable and capable with the programs and online venues that their children and adolescents are using. Nevertheless, some parents and adults are concerned about adolescent’s overuse of new media due to their potential risks and negative impact on adolescent’s psycho-social development. Some parents and caregivers may find it difficult to relate to their digitally savvy youngsters online for valid reasons. Such people may lack some basic understanding of adolescents and the new forms of socialization which is happening online, which are integral to their children's lives. Adolescent’s limited ...
2017
This study was conducted to discover how lower grade students of Generation Y at one higher education institution in the East Coast Malaysia spend their free time with media. It is crucial for educators and parents to understand the role of media in young people’s lives as media is among the most powerful forces in the young people’s lives today. Media is also able to influence the activities that Generation Y students are engaged in during their free time because they are born in the digital age. The respondents for the study were lower grade students from a public university in Malaysia. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and the sample was obtained using a non-probability sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results from this study are hoped to provide educators and parents with valuable information on the impact of media on youths, specifically the lower grade students at higher education institution.
Impact of media use on children and youth
The influence of the media on the psychosocial development of children is profound. Thus, it is important for physicians to discuss with parents their child's exposure to media and to provide guidance on age-appropriate use of all media, including television, radio, music, video games and the Internet. The objectives of this statement are to explore the beneficial and harmful effects of media on children's mental and physical health, and to identify how physicians can counsel patients and their families and promote the healthy use of the media in their communities. TELEVISION Television has the potential to generate both positive and negative effects, and many studies have looked at the impact of television on society, particularly on children and adolescents (1,2). An individual child's developmental level is a critical factor in determining whether the medium will have positive or negative effects. Not all television programs are bad, but data showing the negative effects of exposure to violence, inappropriate sexuality and offensive language are convincing (3). Still, physicians need to advocate continued research into the negative and positive effects of media on children and adolescents. Current literature suggests the following: • Physicians can change and improve children's television viewing habits (4). • Canadian children watch excessive amounts of television (5,6). • There is a relationship between watching violent television programming and an increase in violent behaviour by children (2,7). • Excessive television watching contributes to the increased incidence of childhood obesity (8,9). • Excessive television watching may have a deleterious effect on learning and academic performance (10). • Watching certain programs may encourage irresponsible sexual behaviour (11). • Television is an effective way of advertising products to children of various ages (12). Television viewing frequently limits children's time for vital activities such as playing, reading, learning to talk, spending time with peers and family, storytelling, participating in regular exercise, and developing other necessary physical, mental and social skills. In addition to the amount of time spent in front of the television, other factors that influence the medium's effect on children include the child's developmental level, individual susceptibility and whether children watch television alone or with their parents. Learning:-Television can be a powerful teacher. Watching Sesame Street is an example of how toddlers can learn valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational television format. Some public television programs stimulate visits to the zoo, libraries, bookstores, museums and other active recreational settings, and educational videos can certainly serve as powerful prosocial teaching devices. The educational value of Sesame Street, has been shown to improve the reading and learning skills of its viewers. In some disadvantaged settings, healthy television habits may actually be a beneficial teaching tool. Still, watching television takes time away from reading and schoolwork. More recent and well-controlled studies show that even 1 h to 2 h of daily unsupervised television viewing by school-aged children has a significant deleterious effect on academic performance, especially reading. Education and parental involvement:-High school programs promoting media awareness have been shown to be beneficial (4). They give students more understanding of how the media may affect them socially. In Canada, the Media Awareness Network has a number of resources that can be used by both professionals and the public to promote media literacy. Their resources are comprehensive, current and specifically applicable to Canadian culture. Parents may use ratings but they must be used with caution. Currently, there is no consensus as to which rating system works best. Parental involvement in determining desirable programming is the best choice. Parents have to monitor and control their children's viewing habits. Studies show that parents play an important role in their children's social learning, but if a parent's views are not discussed explicitly with children, the medium may teach and influence by default. Other media, such as magazines, radio, video games and the Internet, also have the potential to influence children's eating habits, exercise habits, buying habits and mental health. If children are allowed to be exposed to these media without adult supervision, they may have the same deleterious effects as television. Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroup dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behaviour, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies. [1] Group dynamics are at the core of understanding racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination. These applications of the field are studied in psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science,epidemiology, education, social work, business, and communication studies. There are three main things that can affect a team's cohesion (the act of working together well). They are: environmental factors, personal factors and leadership factors.
A descriptive epidemiology of screen-based media use in youth: A review and critique
Journal of Adolescence, 2006
The purpose of this systematic review was to (i) estimate the prevalence and dose of television (TV) viewing, video game playing and computer use, and (ii) assess age-related and (iii) secular trends in TV viewing among youth (p18 yr). Ninety studies published in English language journals between 1949 and 2004 were included, presenting data from 539 independent samples (the unit of analysis). Results suggest contemporary youth watch on average 1.8-2.8 h of TV per day, depending on age and gender. Most (66%) are 'low users' (o2 h day À1 ) of TV but 28% watch more than 4 h day À1 . Boys and girls with access to video games spend approximately 60 and 23 min day À1 , respectively, using this technology. Computer use accounts for an additional 30 min day À1 . Age-specific data suggest TV viewing decreases during adolescence, but those considered 'high users' at young ages are likely to remain high users when older. For children with access to a television set, the number of hours spent viewing does not appear to have increased over the past 50 years. r
2014
In this article, the concept of “media lifestyles” is adopted in order to develop a comprehensive approach toward youth engagement in communication media. We explore how 503 Dutch eighth grade students with full access to new technology combine a broad range of media by focusing on their engagement with media while taking various contexts of use into account. Four different media lifestyles of media omnivores, networkers, gamers, and low-frequency users are described. Furthermore, we show how the methodology we used is able to provide more insight into how the distinguished media lifestyles were codetermined by particular media, functions and social contexts. Finally, the implications for the Uses & Gratifications theory are discussed.
Teens and the new media environment: Challenges and opportunities
In this chapter, we provide an overview of our efforts to assess teens’ exposure to media content and the challenges we have encountered in developing our measures. Specifically, we present data from an exploratory study which illustrates that adolescents are growing up in a multiple-media environment, much of adolescent media use is idiosyncratic, and their media encounters are increasingly “interactive.” Content analysis methodology needs to adapt and adjust to these revolutionary changes in the media ecology. We propose an audience-centered, media-ecological approach to content analytical research in response to this emerging interactive new media scenario.
American children's use of electronic media in 1997
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2001
Within a weighted, nationally representative sample of 2902 children, differences in electronic media use by age and sex were examined. The data collected were part of the University of Michigan's Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and included two 24-h time-use diaries, one from a weekday and one from a weekend day. Children and their parents reported the titles of television programs, videotapes, and electronic games (both computer and platform) that the children used. These titles were coded by genre, and differences in total time and in time spent with specific genres within each medium were examined. Main effects of age and sex on total use and use by genres are reported. Among other results, oldest boys were found to spend more time watching sports programs and playing electronic sports games while the oldest girls spend more time watching relationship dramas and not a large amount of time playing video games. The results indicate the diverging media interests of boys and girls. Use patterns may also suggest a lack of availability of appropriate electronic games for older girls. D
Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents
PEDIATRICS, 2010
Youth spend an average of Ͼ7 hours/day using media, and the vast majority of them have access to a bedroom television, computer, the Internet, a video-game console, and a cell phone. In this article we review the most recent research on the effects of media on the health and well-being of children and adolescents. Studies have shown that media can provide information about safe health practices and can foster social connectedness. However, recent evidence raises concerns about media's effects on aggression, sexual behavior, substance use, disordered eating, and academic difficulties. We provide recommendations for parents, practitioners, the media, and policy makers, among others, for ways to increase the benefits and reduce the harm that media can have for the developing child and for adolescents.
Social media is expeditiously unfolding right in front of our eyes and it is relatively undoable to castoff and secrete from this new form of media. It is not only a momentous part of hobnobbing and mingling within groups of the same status, but it is also used to display and instigate people to become part of an outsize populace. It has positively changed the way and manner we communicate and how we find and share information through various media platform such as the use of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and many various blog formations. With new application on smartphones, media (video and audio) can be created, edited and shared quickly. Once it becomes digital, it no longer belongs to the creator as it has gone far and wide. It is through these new headways that have been introduced alongside technology, that one can share things about themselves and other relevant information for the world to view. Before the coming of social media, one would have to communicate and share physically. Teenagers and adolescents are equal to the task of reaching out to the public and even the world at large in astounding ways. Although, the teenage and adolescent years can be quite exacting for children, and social networks can be locus for them to ramble to for support and advice when going through a difficult time. The impress of the media on the psychosocial development of children is abstruse. Thus, it is impertinent for physicians to discuss children's exposure to media with parents and guardians so as to furnish admonition on age-appropriate use of all media, including television, radio, music, video games and the internet, because various social media sites offer children of adolescent and teenage age new ways to access communication and entertainment and the lengthy effects are still not well known. Many adolescents are influenced by the powerful advertisement they see on social media sites, and it strongly influences their buying habits. Many of them are not aware that they are individually targeted because the sites keep track of their habits and demographics. For this rationale, it is also very mandatory for parents to be more cognizant of this new media and what it offers both good and bad for our children The phenomenon of this assertions are to delve into the advantageous and pernicious sequence of media on a child's mental and physical health. ADOLESCENT AGE
New media technology and youth: Trends in the evolution of new media
Journal of Adolescent Health, 2000
An information environment is emerging from the simultaneous, rapid, and interconnected evolution of transmission systems, interfaces, and content quantity, quality, and structure. It will be easy to underestimate the collective impact of the sum of these changes on how young people communicate and absorb information. Ultimately, it will be more important to understand how these technologies will facilitate, amplify, or alter the cognitive processes and/or social behavior of the Internet generation. The article analyzes the impact of the following trends on media use and cognition among youthful users: