Let's start with our kids' media use

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released the third in its series of surveys on Media in the lives of 8-18-year-olds (1999, 2004, 2009). The report generally concludes that a big increase in mobile media like cellphones and iPods has driven an average increase in total time spent using media each day from 6:21 to 7:38 (hr:min).

I was particularly struck by the time reported watching television. According to the report, time spent watching regularly-scheduled television decreased as watching time-shifted to outlets like online and iPods. That shift doesn't surprise, but I am surprised by the total of four hours, twenty-nine minutes (4:29) spent watching TV. As a high school teacher, I found that my students reported almost no television watching at all!

I was directed to the Kaiser report through a blog post by Will Richardson entitled No Choice. In this post, Will emphasizes how the findings in the Kaiser report make it clear that our kids today simply have to be users of technology, and their schools and teachers have to immerse them in technology in their education. I would add that I have looked at the methodology of the Kaiser report and I don't find any attention to socio-economic demographics generally or geography in particular. As an educator in rural Maine, I am acutely aware that access to technology can vary greatly. If anything, this further emphasizes the important role of schools in insuring equity of access. We need to be sure that information like the Kaiser report doesn't foster an assumption of progress but helps us to monitor our work to progress.