Kaiser Foundation Report

I found the Kaiser Foundation Study fascinating, but not surprising. One thing I found intriguing was the link (in data only--the authors made sure to mention that they could not confirm a cause and effect relationship here) between a lower degree of personal contentment and a higher usage of media. I don't know about the rest of you, but I often find that to be the case for me. It seems the more I watch television, the less I feel content with my life. I have often wondered why that is and have chalked it up to the superficial focus of most of television coupled with the inane aspects of humanity that are frequently shown on most shows.

Another tid-bit that I wondered about was the chart on page 13 that illustrates those students who get good grades and compares that to their media usage. The bit I found interesting was the percentage increase of schools that don't use grades. With heavy users, that category does not exist, while with moderate users it's 3% and light users goes up to 10%. I wonder what schools these are and if they are linked with socioeconomic class as well. For example, public schools is the norm for heavy users versus a private or charter school that is out of the norm and likely very expensive. I thought it was interesting that that type of school seemed to correspond with media usage. Does it also correspond in some way with families placing limits on those children?

The fact that all media is becoming more prevalent, more widely used and accessed in most homes is not a surprise. It is disturbing to me that media is in kids' bedrooms because I would think it is much more difficult to supervise appropriate usage that way. I also think kids are more likely to fall asleep watching television, and I believe that is not wise. One's conscious blockers (of common sense and sorting and thinking) are not "on" when one is asleep, so all that stuff just goes in as "truth." Frightening. Not everyone believes this, however.

I find it a little disturbing that only about 10% are reported to read print media online. I wonder about taking in little fragmentary bits all the time and never reading anything comprehensive. What is the long-term effect of that?