Media in the Home 2000

From the Report:

Media in the Home 2000 provides a profile of media ownership, use, and attitudes for parents and children in America. In addition, it tracks parental awareness, knowledge, and use of various public policies designed to regulate those media. This year s survey augments earlier APPC surveys by examining the ways in which parents supervise their children s use of the proliferating media that are increasingly a part of the American home, including a central media environment of the child: the bedroom. Conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide on behalf of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, this national survey of 1,235 parents of children between the ages of two and seventeen (margin of error ± 2.9 percent) and 416 children between the ages of eight and sixteen (margin of error ± 5 percent) reveals:

§ Almost half (48%) of all families with children between the ages of 2 and 17 have all four of the new media staples among families with children: a television, a VCR, video game equipment, and a computer. (See page 7 for details)

§ These media have not only penetrated the homes of American families generally, but are also prevalent in the bedrooms of American children. We surveyed children between the ages 8-16 and found: 57 percent of the sample has a television set in the bedroom; 39 percent has video game equipment; 36 percent has basic cable service; 32 percent has a telephone; 30 percent has a VCR; 20 percent has a computer; and 11 percent has access to the Internet. Children from low-income homes are more likely to have television sets in their bedrooms than children from higher income homes. (See page 17 for details)

According to parents, children spend almost 6½ hours using media each day. Children from low-income households spend 54 minutes more watching television, 30 minutes more watching videotapes, and 27 minutes more playing video games than children from high-income households. (See pages 19-20 for details)

Source: Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

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