UK children's media etc. habits

The ChildWise Monitor is an annual (priced) publication from Childwise which identifies trends in UK children's consumption and activity habits. There is the methodology chapter and contents list on their website free, and some highights are mentioned in an article in the Guardian. They interviewed 1795 children and young people aged 5–16 years: the whole sample answered an initial set of questions, and then were split into 2 sub-samples for questions about various leisure activities (using the internet, reading, playing games, going to the cinema etc.) "The sample was drawn from 92 schools from within the ChildWise panel, selected to give a representative mix of demographics." Children from 7 upwards were mostly interviewed online.
Some points picked up in the Guardian article are:
- 84% said they read for pleasure in 2006, 80% in 2007, 74% in 2008
- children spend 6 hours a day in front of one screen or another
- internet is use more for socialising than for homework
- 1 in 3 said the computer is the single thing they couldn't live without
- "Pupils are using the internet less while at school, frustrated by the low-tech access and the restrictions put in place to stop them from accessing inappropriate material."
- girls are using games consoles more
- children's bedrooms are becoming media hubs
Contents, methodology & info on ordering: http://www.childwise.co.uk/monitor.htm
Curtis, P. (2009) "Internet generation leave parents behind." Guardian, 19 January,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/19/internet-generation-parents

Photo by Sheila Webber: Vestmanna, Faroes, May 2007