Preschool, But Not Pre-Screen

The new report, "Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers," is the first publicly released national study of media use among very young children. It says that 27 percent of four- to six-year-olds use a computer daily, and that 31 percent of zero- to three-year-olds and 70 percent of four- to six-year-olds have some computer experience. It says also that on any given day, 68 percent of children under the age of two will sit in front of a TV set, computer, or video game for an average of just over two hours.

"These are astonishing data. Today's preschoolers are starting to use media much younger than we thought," says Ellen Wartella, dean of the College of Communication at the University of Texas and one of the study's coauthors. "Where previous generations were introduced to media through print, this generation's pathway is electronic."

The average amount of time that young children spend before a screen (two hours, five minutes) significantly outweighs the time spent either reading or being read to (49 minutes), and is even higher than the amount of time those children spend in active play (one hour, 58 minutes). A PDF version of the study document may be downloaded from the Kaiser Family Foundation's site (www.kff.org/content/2003/20031028).