Children and parents: media use and attitudes #infolit #medialiteracy

Ofcom (the UK media and communications watchdog) have published (at end of January 2019) the Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2018. As usual, it is based on robust research: 1,430 in-home interviews with parents of 5-15s and children aged 8-15 were conducted, along with 630 interviews with parents of children aged 3-4: undertaken in April-June 2018. It includes parents views about their children's use of media and devices.
Selected statistics are: "TV sets and tablets dominate device use [by the 5-15 year olds], but time spent watching TV on a TV set (broadcast or on demand) is decreasing"; Netflix is popular; "YouTube is becoming the viewing platform of choice, with rising popularity particularly among 8-11s. Within this, vloggers are an increasingly important source of content and creativity" "Online gaming is increasingly popular; three-quarters of 5-15s who play games do so online"

In terms of news, they had undertaken a news consumption survey of 12-15 year olds.  "TV and social media are important sources of news, but many have concerns over the accuracy and trustworthiness of news on social media" "A majority of online 12-15s think critically about websites they visit, but only a third correctly understand search engine advertising" 80% had heard about the concept of fake news and 43% of those who went online said they's seen fake news.

Go to https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/children-and-parents-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2018
There is also a report: Life on the small screen: What children are watching and why (also published in January 2019). This was an indepth study, with a purposively varied sample of 40 young people in the UK (aged 4-16), with the young people keeping diaries, with usage on devices being logged automatically, and this being followed up with interviews and observation. There are very interesting insights into the children's lives, and how their engagement with media fits into this. Video is very important, especially Youtube, and going out and meeting up with friends etc. was seen by some as too much effort. "Overall, children seem most attracted to content that they can view on their own device, over which they can exercise maximum choice, and which directly feeds the things that interest them."
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/what-children-are-watching-and-why The page that collates these reports and ones from previous years:  https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens

There is also a report by Stéphane Goldstein reporting on the launch of these reports https://infolit.org.uk/ofcom-event-making-sense-of-the-media/
Photo by Sheila Webber: at Livecrumbs, Edinburgh, March 2019