'Gen M' Defined by Media
by Steve Rabey
It seems that just about every
preacher, politician, and youth worker
has opinions about how much
media young people consume today.
But now there's some information
much more exact than opinions.
"Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18-
Year-olds" from the Kaiser Family Foundation
is the latest study to examine kids and their
media consumption. The study, based on
interviews with more than 2,000 students, contains
tons of charts and graphs, a handful of
stunning findings, and some practical suggestions
about what parents and others who care
about kids can do to guide them through
today's media morass.
"Media play a central role in the lives of
today's children and adolescents," says the
report. This statement won't surprise anyone
who works with kids. But one thing that surprised
researchers was the degree to which
media consumption had surged since their last
study in 1999.
Way back then, researchers examining the
kinds of media available in children's households
described these households as "media
rich." Five years later, kids' households are
better described as "media saturated."
"It is difficult to conceive of when (or how)
today's young people might avoid media and
media messages, even if they wanted to limit
their media exposure," wrote the report's
authors, who include Stanford University's
Donald F. Roberts, who co-wrote an earlier
book on kids and rock music entitled It's Not
Only Rock and Roll.
I Want My MTV…and
Internet…and Everything Else
Kids between 8 and 18 spend over six hours a
day consuming media, and thanks to multitasking
(surfing the Web while listening to music),
they take in 8 1/2 hours worth of media entertainment and information during those six hours.
Until more kids learn to live without sleeping,
it seems that most won't spend more than
six hours a day consuming media. "We are
approaching (or have reached) a ceiling on
media use," say the report authors. But with
multitasking on the increase, the intake of
more and more kinds of media during that sixhour
window is expected to continue growing.
Consuming media isn't the only thing kids
do, but it takes up a significant chunk of their
daily lives. Here's a look at how much time
young people spend on some of the more
important activities that fill their days:
Watching TV = 3:04
Hanging out with parents = 2:17
Hanging out with friends = 2:16
Listening to music = 1:44
Exercising, sports, etc. = 1:25
Watching movies/videos = 1:11
Using a computer = 1:02
Pursuing hobbies, clubs, etc. = 1:00
Media is a great leveling influence, and
there's amazing uniformity in the consumption
patterns of all kinds of kids. The only significant
differences are that boys seem to like
video games more than girls and African-
Americans like TV more than other groups.
Making a Difference
Parents, youth workers, and others concerned
about kids' media consumption will be interested
to know that there are three key factors
that influence the amount of time kids spend
with media. These factors are related to three
important issues: availability of media technology,
household media environment, and
household rules governing media use.
As for technology, kids who have their own
TV, video game equipment, or computer in
their bedrooms spend an average of two more
hours consuming media than kids whose
rooms are less well-equipped. In addition, kids
who have TVs in their rooms spend less time
on leisure reading than kids who don't. The
report found that more than two-thirds of
young people between the ages of 8 and 18
have TVs in their rooms.
As for household environments, parents
play an important role in guiding the ways their
children relate to media. For example, the
report talks at some length about what it calls
"high TV-orientation homes." The report found
that half of kids surveyed live in homes where
the TV is "usually" on, and 60% are in homes where TV is on during dinner. Perhaps it's not
surprising that such "high TV-orientation
homes" create kids who are more media saturated
than homes where there's more balance
between media and other activities.
And when it comes to media use rules,
there's a significant difference between kids who
grow up in "anything goes" homes and those
who live with guidelines for media consumption.
Less than half of all young people surveyed
live with any kinds of controls on their media
use. But those kids whose parents try to
enforce some form of media rules routinely consume
less media than kids who have no rules.
Media use rules vary widely. Some limit the
amount of time kids consume media, while
others focus on content (such as rules that
are based on widely used rating systems for
music, movies, and video games). But no
matter what kinds of rules are in place, kids
who live with rules seem to realize more readily
that there's more to life than entertainment
and Web surfing.
Assessing the Impact
The authors of the "Generation M" study shy
way from editorializing on the moral implications
of their research. But they do point out
two interesting correlations: Kids who have the
highest media consumption levels have the
lowest grades and the lowest levels of personal
contentedness.
But we shouldn't hastily conclude that high
media consumption causes low grades or lack of
contentedness. Instead of high media use causing
kids' problems, it may be the case that young
people who do poorly at school or are depressed
about life want to spend more time with media so
they can forget about their problems.
And at least one author believes certain
types of media consumption actually help people
think. Steven Johnson, who had nothing to
do with the Kaiser Family Foundation report, is
the author of a new book entitled Everything
Bad is Good For You: How Today's Popular
Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.
Johnson's counterintuitive hypothesis argues
that acclaimed TV shows like 24 and The
Sopranos actually stimulate brain activity. They do
so, Johnson says, by forcing viewers to carefully
follow large numbers of characters, intersecting
story lines, and morally complex situations.
Such shows provide "cognitive workouts,"says Johnson, who traced the ebbs and flows
of a recent episode of 24 and found 21 distinct
characters and nine primary narrative threads.
While there are still plenty of TV shows that
play down to their audiences, Johnson
provocatively argues that some of the more
complex shows to hit TV screens in the wake
of 1981's pioneering Hill Street Blues actually
serve as intellectual wake-up calls for those
viewers who are dedicated enough to follow
them closely.
Ironically, the shows Johnson says are
most intellectually demanding are the same
shows that many conservative Christians love
to hate, in part because they fail to give viewers
black and white life lessons.
But Johnson believes the best shows are
those that challenge viewers to think through
their own values. "What media have lost in
moral clarity, they have gained in realism," he
wrote in the April 24 issue of The New York
Times Magazine. "The world doesn't come in
nicely packaged public-service announcements,
and we're better off with entertainment
like The Sopranos that reflects our fallen state
with all its ethical ambiguity."
So here's the reader's handy summary
paragraph. Researchers have proven that kids
are consuming more media, but social
observers disagree about whether this is good
or bad. Maybe some future study will answer
all these lingering questions.
But I suspect not.
[For more information on the "Generation M" study, see the April issue of the Archives of Pediatric and
Adolescent Medicine or visit the Kaiser Family
Foundation Web site, which has a pdf format version
of the study: www.kff.org/entmedia]
STEVE RABEY is a
Colorado writer and
culture critic. His most
recent book is The
Way of the Mystics:
Ancient Wisdom for
Experiencing God
Today, with John
Michael Talbot
(Jossey-Bass).
Back to more Culture articles
Wisdom On ... Music, Movies & Television
