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U.S. Kids Spend Almost 1/3 of Their Day Online, Study Finds

by Warren Riddle on January 21, 2010 at 02:25 PM


Five years ago, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a survey that determined kids between the ages of 8 and 18 spent a whopping 6.5 hours a day on the Internet. According to the New York Times, one of the study's researchers initially thought that the usage statistics could not possibly increase in the future because of a lack of "enough hours in the day."

The Foundation recently conducted the same study again, and that particular researcher, Professor Donald Roberts of Stanford University, was absolutely stunned by the results. Somehow, U.S. kids have managed to cram in an extra hour, now spending an average of 7.5 hours a day surfing the Web from computers, smartphones, and other gadgets. That number doesn't even take into account any time spent text messaging, gabbing on the phone, or tweeting. The statistic could most certainly have been higher, too, but Twitter had not yet achieved widespread popularity at the time of the survey.

The usage data will definitely inspire some analysts to decry the evils of Web addiction and its supposed role in anti-social behavior. But, the key to addressing the issue, and its consequences, still lies with adults. One parent of a tech-happy teen told the Times that she is definitely not afraid to "suspend (her son's) service for a week or two." Another instituted a weekend-only policy for her child's video game activities. If only we could all be so wise, or just fortunate enough to have a digital disciplinarian, ourselves. [From: The New York Times]

Tags: children, internet, internet addiction, InternetAddiction, study, teens, top

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