Media
Media/entertainment
1999-2006
Topics
Study documents daily 'screen time' of Australian adolescents, 2006
Young people's TV viewing habits linked to junk food consumption, 2006
Some statistics from the Yahoo!/OMD global youth, media and technology survey, 2005
Entertainment media, 2005
Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18-year-olds, Washington, 2005
Youth, music and the media, 1999
Study documents daily 'screen time' of Australian adolescents, 2006
Researchers at the University of South Australia have conducted a study to assess the multimedia activity of 1,039 South Australian young people aged 10–13 years. Participants were required to keep a diary of their multimedia activity over a 24-hour period. Each participant completed 2–4 of these 24-hour diaries, including at least 1 school day and 1 non-school day, during 2002.
The median 'screen time' for participants was 229 minutes per day (264 minutes for males, 196 minutes for females). Screen time was higher on non-school days (260 minutes) than on school days (190 minutes). Screen time was found to increase according to participants' age and decrease according to participants' socioeconomic status. Participants categorised as 'extreme screen users' (those in the top quartile of results) were more likely to be male, have low levels of physical activity, devote over 25% of their screen time to video games, get less sleep and be of lower socioeconomic status than their peers. One in 10 participants had an average daily screen time of 7 hours, while 1 in 10 participants played video games for almost 3 hours per day. On average, participants' screen time made up 27% of their waking hours.
Media viewed as a percentage of total screen time
| Television | 73% | |
| Video games | 19% | |
| Non-game computer use | 6% | |
| Cinema | 2% |
Results of the study were published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, v.30, n.2, 2006, pp.137-42.
Sources:
Olds, T., Ridley, K. & Dollman, J. 2006, Screenieboppers and extreme screenies: The place of screen time in the time budgets of 10–13-year-old Australians, abstract, Public Health Association of Australia [viewed 17/01/2007].
The Australian, 18/4/06, p.3
The West Australian, 15/4/06, p.13.
Young people's TV viewing habits linked to junk food consumption, 2006
In April 2006, Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown released a research paper linking the amount of television watched by young Australians with a greater likelihood of their consumption of junk food. The impact of television viewing on children's attitudes to junk food analyses information about young people's television viewing habits, attitudes towards advertising and levels of junk food consumption gathered by Roy Morgan Research during 2005. This data, collected from 3,649 14–17-year-olds, showed that 1 in 5 young people watch more than 4 hours of television a day. Those same young people, who see more than 5 hours of advertisements per week, find ads more interesting, are less likely to prefer eating healthy snacks and are 50% more likely to eat chocolate bars on a regular basis than their peers who watch less TV.
Other findings from the paper:
Commercial television viewing habits of 14–17-year-olds (weekdays)
| 4 or more hours per day | 20% (approx.) |
| 2–4 hours per day | 45% |
| Fewer than 2 hours per day | 30% (approx.) |
| No commercial television | 4% (approx.) |
Attitudes to TV advertisements by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| 'I find TV advertisements interesting' | 38% | 28% |
| 'TV advertising often gives me something to talk about' | 44% | 41% |
| 'Nearly all TV advertising annoys me' | 56% | 64% |
| 'Some TV advertising is devious' | 71% | 75% |
Attitudes to food by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| 'I prefer to eat healthy snacks' | 33% | 53% |
| 'Taste is more important than ingredients' | 63% | 52% |
Consumption of chocolate bars by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| Frequent (at least 1–2 times per week) | 33% | 21% |
| Regular (fortnightly) | 17% | 18% |
| Occasional (less often) | 11% | 24% |
Consumption of other junk foods by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| Potato chips | 69% | 58% |
| Other snacks (e.g. Twisties, Cheezels, popcorn) | 33% | 24% |
| Consumed regular cola in last 7 days | 61% | 55% |
Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown: http://www.bobbrown.org.au
Sources:
Denniss, R. 2006, The impact of television viewing on children's attitudes to junk food: Paper prepared by Dr Richard Denniss for Senator Bob Brown, Leader of the Australian Greens, Australian Greens [viewed 17/01/2007].
Canberra Times 24/4/06, p.2.
Some statistics from the Yahoo!/OMD global youth, media and technology survey, 2005
In 2005, internet company Yahoo! and media communications specialist OMD commissioned a study of the use of media and technology by young people around the world. The study included 16 qualitative focus groups and 15 in-home ethnographies (both of which were conducted in 6 countries and involved participants aged from 15–22 years) and an online survey of 5,334 young people aged 13–24 years from 11 countries. The resulting report, Truly, madly deeply engaged: Global youth, media and technology, found that today's generation of youth is motivated by community, self-expression and personalisation, and that these motivations guide their use of media and technology.
Some findings from the study (Australian statistics in bold):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| USA | music 82% | friends 81% | movies 79% | family 61% |
| Mexico | music 84% | movies 79% | friends 76% | family 62% |
| UK | music 85% | friends 82% | movies 74% | v.games 59% |
| France | friends 82% | music 80% | movies 78% | v.games 51% |
| Germany | friends 84% | movies 72% | music 69% | shopping 44% |
| Russia | music 81% | friends 81% | movies 72% | family 52% |
| China | music 71% | friends 64% | v.games 58% | family 56% |
| Hong Kong | music 69% | friends 69% | movies 58% | v.games 54% |
| S. Korea | music 68% | friends 48% | movies 48% | v.games 41% |
| India | music 81% | movies 73% | friends 66% | family 54% |
| Australia | music 85% | friends 83% | movies 78% | v.games 57% |
| PC | Mobile phone | Video game console | MP3 player | PDA (with internet) | |
| USA | 86% | 72% | 61% | 28% | 2% |
| Mexico | 59% | 91% | 58% | 60% | 23% |
| UK | 92% | 97% | 69% | 63% | 12% |
| France | 92% | 91% | 56% | 62% | 7% |
| Germany | 90% | 95% | 51% | 72% | 11% |
| Russia | 83% | 92% | 12% | 61% | 4% |
| China | 80% | 74% | 19% | 83% | 19% |
| Hong Kong | 83% | 89% | 36% | 77% | 12% |
| S. Korea | 80% | 85% | 12% | 64% | 14% |
| India | 79% | 75% | 19% | 46% | 10% |
| Australia | 88% | 92% | 61% | 49% | 9% |
| Instant messaging | Online searching | Blogging | ||
| USA | 68% | 49% | 45% | 17% |
| Mexico | 81% | 73% | 71% | 28% |
| UK | 86% | 63% | 66% | 20% |
| France | 83% | 74% | 67% | 31% |
| Germany | 77% | 42% | 62% | 12% |
| Russia | 78% | 50% | 17% | 15% |
| China | 67% | 59% | 64% | 42% |
| Hong Kong | 69% | 51% | 63% | 36% |
| S. Korea | 73% | 53% | 82% | 62% |
| India | 77% | 59% | 55% | 29% |
| Australia | 85% | 64% | 61% | 18% |
| Music | Music videos | |
| USA | 54% | 10% |
| Mexico | 88% | 42% |
| UK | 71% | 22% |
| Russia | 64% | 22% |
| China | 80% | 27% |
| Hong Kong | 67% | 19% |
| S. Korea | 73% | 16% |
| India | 64% | 25% |
| Australia | 70% | 22% |
| While using the internet | While watching television | |
| USA | 3.7 | 3.0 |
| Mexico | 4.2 | 3.2 |
| UK | 4.1 | 3.1 |
| France | 3.5 | 2.3 |
| Germany | 4.1 | 2.9 |
| China | 3.5 | 2.7 |
| Australia | 4.1 | 3.0 |
| USA | 5.5 |
| Mexico | 8.8 |
| UK | 9.0 |
| France | 8.3 |
| Germany | 7.8 |
| Russia | 7.8 |
| China | 7.1 |
| Hong Kong | 7.1 |
| S. Korea | 8.1 |
| India | 9.6 |
| Australia | 8.5 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| USA | text msg 49% | games 49% | ringtones 38% | photos 29% |
| Mexico | text msg 85% | games 64% | photos 60% | IM 58% |
| UK | text msg 95% | photos 75% | games 68% | picture msg 54% |
| France | text msg 94% | games 66% | photos 57% | picture msg 50% |
| Germany | text msg 94% | games 66% | photos 56% | ringtones 37% |
| Russia | text msg 92% | games 62% | photos 45% | IM 43% |
| China | games 61% | ringtones 58% | photos 45% | IM 37% |
| Hong Kong | text msg 75% | games 62% | photos 58% | ringtones 38% |
| S. Korea | text msg 87% | photos 73% | games 69% | ringtones 62% |
| India | text msg 92% | games 82% | ringtones 73% | IM 58% |
| Australia | text msg 97% | games 74% | photos 59% | ringtones 42% |
Sources:
Yahoo! & OMD 2005, Truly, madly deeply engaged: Global youth, media and technology, Yahoo! [viewed 18/1/2007].
The Age Live Wire supplement, 1/6/06, p.8.
Entertainment media, 2005
New technologies such as mobile phones, MP3 players, broadband internet connections, DVD players and computer games have changed the way teenagers and people in their early 20s consume media.
According to Roy Morgan Research:
- Almost 80% of 14- to 24-year-olds access the internet at least once a month (up from 54% six years ago).
- Proportion tuning in to commercial television on a normal weekday has fallen marginally from 96.2% to 94.8% since early 1999.
- More than a third of 14- to 24-year-olds said they cannot live without a mobile phone (compared to 16% of all consumers).
- 46% said they enjoy chatting online (compared to 14% in general).
- 44% of 14- to 24-year-olds believe computers and technology have given them more control over their lives, compared to 28% of all consumers.
Source: The Australian Financial Review, 25/07/2005, p.46.
Roy Morgan Research: http://www.roymorgan.com.au/
Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18 year-olds, Washington, 2005
The study, 'Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18 year-olds', released March 2005, examined media use among a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 3rd to 12th graders who completed detailed questionnaires, including nearly 700 self-selected participants who also maintained seven-day media diaries.The survey questionnaires and diaries document:
- Which media young people have in their homes
- Which media young people use
- The duration of their media use
- Where and with whom they use media
- Which media genres and activities are preferred
- What young people's home media environment is like
- What rules, if any, govern their media behaviour
- What relationships, if any, exist between both overall media use and exposure to individual media and various demographic variables
- What relationships, if any exist between both overall media use and exposure to individual media and young people's media environment, school grades, contentedness, and other non-media activities.
Source: West Australian, 12/3/2005, p.7.
The Kaiser Family Foundation.
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Youth, music and the media, 1999
Research completed in 1999 as a joint project by the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the Australia Council and the Australian Record Industry Association into the musical activities and preferences of young people, including their access to different media and the effect of new technologies on their music consumption made the following findings:
- Average number of CDs that young Australians buy per year: 6
- Percentage of young people in 1999 who had a CD player in their own room: 49%
... a television set: 38%
- Biggest influences on young people's taste in music:
... friends: 85%
... radio: 72%
... television: 51%
Radio was the most common source of information about new or latest release music. Commercial FM was the favoured radio format of many, although Triple J was also popular.
Young people were most likely to buy their music on CD (an average of 16 CDs a year) and a growing proportion use the Internet to access information on performers.
80% had participated in music activities at some time, while 35% had participated on a regular basis. Playing an instrument was the most frequently mentioned activity.
About half of all survey respondents said the main way they listen to music is on CDs, and a third said radio.
Internet activity in past 6 months was:
- to access sites for bands or performers: 53%
- to access sites of radio stations: 25%
- to distribute music to other people:4%
Radio listening time (average) per week, 1997:
- 10–17-year-olds: 13 hours and 13 minutes
- 18–24-year-olds: 21 hours and 47 minutes
Television viewing (average per week), 1997:
- 13–17-year-olds: 18 hours and 40 minutes
- 16–24-year-olds: 16 hours and 41 minutes
Table 1:
Equipment (National survey of young people aged 12–24 years)
|
Equipment |
In the Home |
In their own room |
|
Radio |
99 |
71 |
|
Television |
99 |
38 |
|
CD player |
94 |
49 |
|
Video recorder |
92 |
16 |
|
Shelf stereo system |
90 |
37 |
|
Walkman*tape or CD |
79 |
54 |
|
Portable stereo system |
70 |
36 |
|
Record turntable |
61 |
7 |
|
Computer with CD-ROM |
54 |
11 |
|
Internet access |
25 |
3 |
|
Pay TV |
22 |
3 |
|
None of these |
0 |
5 |
Source: Survey commissioned by ABA, Australia Council & ARIA
Source: Australian Broadcasting Authority, Head banging or Dancing? Youth and music in Australia, Monograph No. 8, Pt 2, 1999.
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