Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America 2013

Even a casual observer of children and families today knows big changes are afoot when it comes to children and new media technologies. This report, based on the results of a large-scale, nationally representative survey, documents for the first time exactly how big those changes are.

Key findings:

• Children’s access to mobile media devices is dramatically higher than it was two years ago.
• Almost twice as many children have used mobile media compared to two years ago, and the average amount of time children spend using mobile devices has tripled.
• Time spent with “traditional” screen media such as television, DVDs, video games, and computers is down substantially, by more than half an hour a day (:31).
• Television still dominates children’s media time, but new ways of watching now make up a large portion of viewing.
• Access to mobile media devices and applications among poor and minority children is much higher than it was two years ago, but a large gap between rich and poor still persists.
• Television continues to be the most widely-used platform for children’s educational content.