Source : Common Sense

This report presents the findings from the fourth wave of Common Sense Media’s ongoing series of surveys about the media lives of young children in the United States. The series began nearly a decade ago, in 2011; over this period, more than 5,700 respondents have been surveyed. As far as we are aware, this is the only nationally representative, probability-based study tracking the use of media by children from birth through age 8 in the United States. We do this study because of our conviction that media and technology are absolutely central to children’s lives. Academically, the world in which today’s children are growing up requires a high degree of immersion in and use of media and technology. Entertainment, social life, and play are all increasingly digital. The activities children engage in, and the content and messages to which they are exposed, are based to a large extent on the media-related choices they and their parents make. We can no longer treat media as an afterthought when it comes to child development, education, and well-being. Differences in access and use may reflect differences in opportunities and risks that researchers, policymakers, educators, parents, and health care providers need to be well equipped to address.

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