Over the past few years, media use among children and teens has become more prevalent than ever. With the launch of the iPod, the explosion in instant messaging, the birth of mobile video and YouTube, and the advent of social networking sites like MySpace, young people are rarely out of contact, or out of reach of the media. Meanwhile, policymakers continue to be concerned about the impact of media on young people.
The Federal Communications Commission is issuing record-breaking fines for indecency and inadequate educational content, and sent Congress a major report recommending regulation of media violence. The Parents Television Council reports that violence and gruesome content on TV are on the rise; and many experts are expressing concern about TV and its possible links to obesity, attention deficit disorder, or sexual activity among young people. And in the summer of 2006 the television industry launched a large promotional campaign to educate parents about the TV ratings and the V-Chip.
In the context of all this activity and attention, the Kaiser Family Foundation is issuing this report to explore how parents view the role of media in their children’s lives—what they see that’s positive and negative about media, and how they monitor their children’s use of media, from television to video games to the Internet.