Publisher’s Weekly (1/25/10) Reports:
Driven by increased popularity of mobile and online media, overall media consumption by the 8–18-year-old demographic has exploded over the past five years, according to a study released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average daily media use by young people in that age group was seven hours and 38 minutes in 2009, up from six hours and 21 minutes in 2004. And while the only segment to decline in use was print, book reading has held its own against the onslaught of new media channels.
On average, 8–18-year-olds spent 25 minutes per day reading books in 2009, up from 23 minutes in 2004 and 21 minutes in 1999. The survey found that 47% of people in that age range read books and those that do read an average of 54 minutes per day. Similar to the findings of earlier reading studies conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kaiser report found that reading for pleasure decreases as children get older. Children ages eight–10 read an average of 33 minutes a day, but 15–18-year-olds only read 21 minutes a day. The survey also found that reading, especially book reading, is the only media activity white youths devote more time to than black and Hispanic youths, and that book reading is one of only two activities that girls spend more time doing than boys (music listening is the other).
Additionally, contrary to what is found for other media, young people who are heavy readers (those who spend an hour or more per day with print media) are substantially more likely to say they earn high grades that those who are light readers (those who report no print reading in a typical day): 72% of heavy readers report high grades, compared to 60% of those in the lightreading group.
| AGE | GENDER | RACE/ETHNICITY | PARENTS’ EDUCATION | |||||||||
| Among all | 8–10 | 11–14 | 15–18 | Boy | Girl | White | Black | Hispanic | HS or less | Some college | College+ | |
| Books | 25 | 33 | 25 | 21 | 20 | 31 | 28 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 31 |
| Magazines | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 10 |
| Newspapers | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Total print | 38 | 46 | 37 | 33 | 33 | 43 | 39 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 30 | 44 |
| Total media use | 7:38 | 5:29 | 8:40 | 7:58 | 7:51 | 7:37 | 6:22 | 9:44 | 9:14 | 8:07 | 8:03 | 7:12 |
| Source: Kaiser Family Foundation | ||||||||||||