By Jane Wakefield
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Children
are spending far more time watching a screen, even though traditional TV
viewing has dropped.
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Children
aged five to 16 spend an average of six and a half hours a day in front of a
screen compared with around three hours in 1995, according to market research
firm Childwise. Teenaged
boys spend the longest, with an average of eight hours.
Eight-year-old
girls spend the least - three-and-a-half hours, according to the study.
Screen
time is made up of time spent watching TV, playing games consoles, using a
mobile, computer or tablet.
Changing times
The
Connected Kids report, compiled by market researcher Childwise, has collated
data from 1995 to the present day to create a comprehensive picture of
children's media habits. Each
year, its report, which is not available online, surveys around 2,000 children,
aged five to 16.
It
finds that teenaged girls now spend an average of seven-and-a-half- hours
watching screens, compared with 3.5 hours of TV viewing in 1995.
Younger
children fare slightly better - in 1995, five to 10-year-olds averaged around
two-and-a-half-hours of TV.
Fast-forward
to 2014 and screen time has risen to four-and-a-half hours.
Children
are also now multi-screening - using more than one device at the same time, for
example, watching TV while surfing the internet on a tablet or mobile so some
of the screen time will be concurrent.
"The
main difference from the 1990s is that then TV and magazines were the main ways
for connecting kids to the media and now they have different devices from
tablets, mobiles, games consoles and they have a much higher screen time,"
said research executive Matthew Nevard.
Children's
TV viewing habits have changed dramatically, with the majority now watching
television via catch-up services and YouTube rather than the traditional TV
set, according to the report.
YouTube
is the most popular on-demand service with more than half of respondents
accessing TV and video via the site since 2013.
Paid-for
on-demand services, such as Netflix, have also risen rapidly in recent years
and are expected to continue to grow in popularity.
It
is not great news for the terrestrial channels - BBC One has seen its audience
of seven to 16-year-olds drop from over 80% in 1995 to just over 40% in 2014.
ITV's audience follows a similar trajectory.
The
transition to digital, coupled with dedicated children's channels, is another
reason for the drop in children's viewing of the main channels with children
now watching more content on dedicated channels such as CBBC, CITV, Nickelodeon
and Disney.
Demanding connectivity
The
study also looks at how the internet has changed the way children engage with
information.
"The
internet is pivotal to their lives and they are now able to access a wealth of
content," said Mr Nevard.
The
internet has given children more freedom to explore their own interests rather
than being tied into the content offered to them from the TV schedules or
magazines.
"They
can find the content that they want," he said.
The
study describes connectivity as "a fundamental need for young people
now".
"Children
now don't remember a time before the internet," said Mr Nevard.
Ubiquitous
online access is also likely to influence the way children interact with their
families and "their willingness to participate in family holidays and
trips out", the report finds.
Image culture
For
the last 10 years, Childwise has charted the most popular websites for young
people.
YouTube
has remained in the top three since 2007 while Facebook has seen its appeal dip
in recent years, as children turn to newer services such as Snapchat.
Children
enjoy the privacy of WhatsApp and Snapchat, according to the survey, and the
use of such services is also changing how they communicate.
"It
reflects the image culture which has emerged, where pictures are utilised to
give a better representation of current moods and or activities," the
survey said.
Google
is one of the few sites to remain popular across 10 years of data with sites.
Wearable tech
The
report also attempts a bit of future-gazing and predicts that in the next 10
years, children growing up will have little understanding of a world without
the internet.
The
internet of things - where household objects communicate and share data - will
be regarded as normal, it suggests.
"Having
appliances which cannot be controlled using a smartphone or some kind of online
dashboard may be seen as outdated, or at least increasingly rare," the
report concludes.
It
also thinks that most children will have some form of wearable technology, be
it a smart watch, smart glasses or a virtual reality headset.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/
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