New research from Common Sense shows that teens (13-18) consume an average of 9 hours of media every day, and tweens (8-12) consume an average of 6 hours of media every day. That doesn’t include time spent at school or doing homework, the study stipulates. For teens, nearly seven hours of their day is spent in front of a screen, and two-thirds of those surveyed own their own smartphone. For tweens, more than four and a half hours of their day is spent in front of screens, and half of them own their own tablet.

In releasing the study, Michael Robb, the director of research at Common Sense, points out these key findings in a blog post:

  • “It’s not your imagination — media use is off the charts. Teens use an average of nine hours of entertainment media per day, and tweens use an average of six hours, not including time spent using media for school or homework. Of that, tweens average more than four and a half hours of screen media use a day and teens more than six and a half hours.
  • There is a wide diversity in screen media use. On any given day, 34 percent of tweens and 23 percent of teens spend two hours or less with screen media, while 11 percent of tweens and 26 percent of teens spend more than eight hours.
  • Low-income kids lack access. Kids growing up in lower-income homes are far less likely to have access to computers, tablets, and smartphones than their wealthier peers, but when they do have access, they’re more likely to spend more time on their devices.
  • Boys’ and girls’ media preferences are very different. Teen boys average 56 minutes a day playing video games, compared to girls’ seven minutes; and teen girls spend 40 minutes more a day than boys on social media (1:32 vs. 52 minutes).
  • Social media use is big — but maybe not super fun. Social media is an integral part of most teens’ lives (45 percent use it “every day”), but only 36 percent say they enjoy using social media “a lot,” compared with 73 percent who enjoy listening to music and 45 percent who enjoy watching TV “a lot.”
  • Everyone can be a maker, but not many are. The vast majority of kids’ engagement with media consists of consuming media, with only a small portion devoted to creating content.”

The large-scale study explores young people’s use of the full range of media and technology, and offers a comprehensive picture of the use of media by kids, aged 8 to 18 in the U.S., including the level of enjoyment, frequency of use, and amount of time devoted to a wide array of media activities and devices.

The organization released an infographic, as well as a video (shown on the home page of WRAL Tech Wire).