Daily Life And Behavior

Fifteen years ago, the average American youngster spent 28 hours each week in front of a screen. (Roberts, Foehr & Rideout, 2005) It's since risen quite a bit. A report commissioned by commonsense media revealed the average child spends nearly 45 hours a week immersed in some form of media...3 TIMES THE AMOUNT OF TIME they spend with their parents, and more than the 30 hours a week they spend in school. (Szabo, 12-2-08)

All of this media exposure, which amounts to around 8 1/2 hours of digital media each day, is quite literally changing the brain structure of today's youth. (Small & Vorgan, 2008)

Many teachers report that parents are their worst enemy in doing their job, and some report that they give C's or D's rather than a failing grade in order to avoid confrontation with parents. (Walsh, 2007)

2,272 text messages are sent and received every month by the average American teen, according to the Nielson Company. This amounts to almost 80 messages a day. (6-8-09 Time, p. 15)

The percentage of internet-using 12 to 17-year-olds who:

1. Use social networks: 73%
2. Share content: 38%
3. Blog: 14%
4. Use Twitter: 8%

(Source: Marcus, 2-4-2010)

Gaming isn't just a guy thing. According to a recent survey, teenage girls ages 13 to 17 spend an average of 14 hours every week playing video games. (Nielson Report, 2009)

Their most treasured technology , things that youth ages 12 to 17 believe that they can't live without:

1. Cell phone: 47%
2. TV: 42%
3. Microwave: 27%
4. Google: 22%
5. Video games: 22%

(Source: USA Today, 2-15-2010, p. 1A)

- Daily Life & Behavior -

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So your youngster sits in the basement playing video games and eating Cheetos all day on the weekends, and you want to know if this is normal. Or perhaps you're merely curious to know about what teens do when they're out with their friends. This section contains information on different aspects of teen behavior in their everyday life: Habits, hobbies, patterns, recreation,
media use and the like.