Tweens Plugged In All the Time

The New York Times today ran an article entitled "If Your Kids Are Awake, They're Probably Online" citing new statistics released by the Kaiser Family Foundation on kids' online habits. The study, released today, finds that kids ages 8 to 18 (which includes the tween demographic) are consuming 11 hours of media a day - if that statistic seems high, it's because kids are master multitaskers who will listen to music on their iPod while working on a laptop with the TV on in the background. They spend about seven and a half hours "plugged in" a day, PLUS one and half hours talking or texting on the phone. Furthermore, the study found a strong correlation between the number of hours spent plugged in and obesity, behavior problems, and poor grades. The study also found that the heaviest media users were tweens.

Wow. Makes one think.

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