Amount of time the young viewers spend on devices - Research

For my research, I wanted to find out how much young viewers spend on devices to get an idea of the statistics behind it.

I came across this article that the BBC wrote which I think is very useful because not only it tells us how many hours children spend on the screen but it also compares it to how it used to be about 20 years ago. This is great because I'm trying to emphasize how technology has changed us, how we evolved with it and this article is a good example.

Reference

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32067158

Wakefield, J.W. (2015). Children spend six hours or more a day on screens. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32067158.

It says that in 1999, children aged 5 to 16 would spend an average of three hours in front a screen compared to 2015, where children would spend an average of 6 and a half hours in front of the screen. When it says screen, it represents TV, gaming consoles, mobile, tablet or computer.

I have designed a diagram to emphasize the difference between 1999 and 2015. This is on average the amount time spent in front of a screen in 1999 and 2015.

The teenage girls spent about 3 and a half hours in front of a screen in 1999 but in 2015, the time increased and it is reported that they now spend around seven and a half hours on average.

It is the same for young children as well, the time has increased but not that much, in 1999, they would spend on average two and a half hours but in 2015, it only increased by two hours. I do think the time will keep increasing though for the young children.

What is the reason behind the increase?

- We live in a world where we are surrounded by technology, more so than ever and there's an increase of devices since 1999 so it's hard for someone to not have at least one device since it's everywhere and affordable. 

Back in the day, magazines were the ways for a child to connect with the media but now, they can connect with the media in so many ways, more interesting than reading a magazine.

The article says that the internet gives the children more freedom in exploring their own interests, more so than the magazines did.

In conclusion, young viewers are spending their time behind a screen more than they did in the past but who can blame them, there weren't many devices back in the day and they weren't as affordable as they are now so it's easy to get sucked into using a technology device because there are so many options to choose from. Nowadays, technology will always beat a book or a magazine because it's more interesting, it requires less thought because unlike reading, you don't have to visualize what you are seeing and using technology is the easy way to communicate without any effort.