Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Children and adolescents now live in complex, media-saturated environments – ones filled with televisions, videocassette recorders, DVD players, digital video recorders, TiVos, computers, the Internet, videogame consoles, CD players, iPods, print media, and other portable electronic devices. Media are a ubiquitous force in children's daily lives, and they clearly play integral roles in children's education, communication, entertainment, and leisure as well as influence their daily routines. Moreover, childhood is characterized by early and frequent media use, preparing youth for life-long relationships with communication technologies. This chapter examines these diverse media experiences at different points in children's lives – from infancy through adolescence – as well as explores the ways in which boys and girls and children from different racial and socioeconomic groups use media. The chapter is organized around three primary aspects of media use: access and use, time spent with different technologies, and content preferences. The first section addresses access to media, which is a precursor to message exposure and media effects. Because children's access is often determined by parents (e.g., making the decision to purchase a computer for the family), the focus of the discussion will be availability and use of various media within the home. The second section of the chapter ... log in or subscribe to read full text