Parents take note: Texting teens are taking over

Multimedia use among teens and young adults has skyrocketed over the last several years. It’s now reaching the tip of the iceberg. While the increased attention is a great thing for corporate America, on the reverse, “big media” is beginning to take over our children’s lives; and ours, too.

A study released from the Kaiser Family Foundation, whose headquarters are located in Menlo Park, Calif., says children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend a whopping 53 hours per week using some form of media. The study was conducted in three waves: starting in 1999, continuing in 2004 and concluding in 2009.

Wait, 53 hours? Yes. That’s not a type-o. The numbers are alarming to both parents and health experts. Haven’t you ever heard the old adage, “Too much TV will fry your brain?”

Donna Boudreaux, a guidance counselor for H. L. Bourgeois High School, says the amount of media teens are using today has definitely increased since her start as a teacher 29 years ago.

“It has both a positive and negative impact,” she adds. “The world is becoming more and more technologically advanced.”

Those students, who are tech-savvy, will likely succeed in college where courses are being taught online, says Boudreaux. “They have to be able to use all of that technology [in college]. But are they spending lots of time doing that instead of classwork? Absolutely.”

Media multitasking has also become a popular trend. Like updating your status on Facebook while texting or listening to your iPod while writing a research paper. By juggling media, the foundation says people in this age group are actually packing on more than 10 hours and 45 minutes of media use per day, all in about a seven-hour period.

But access is everywhere. Escape is impossible. The world now hinges on media as not only an outlet of self-expression – blogs, personal Web sites, diaries – but a cornerstone as to what’s happening. Media creates a pipeline of knowledge. If you aren’t on the other end, you’re out of luck.

For students at H.L. Bourgeois, the pipeline is cut off during school hours. Things like cell phones, MP3 players and CD players are strictly prohibited on-campus. If a student is caught breaking the rule it could be grounds for suspension.

Rules are similar for public schools throughout the region.

A few weeks ago, Blackberry networks across the grid collapsed, stopping text messages and emails from being received. It turned into mayhem, especially for businesses whose activities are spread over hundreds of miles. For the younger generation it probably resulted in nothing more than a headache and a sour stomach for those who couldn’t text their “BFF” they would “TTYL.” (Best friend forever and talk to you later, respectively.)

Lucky for Blackberry users, the problem was fixed. But if it had continued for days, say, even weeks, our nation may have turned into a war zone: No email. No text. No life.

It’s undeniable that media is an important factor in fueling our lifestyle and even the way we do business. The only question is how much is too much? Are we too reliant on our virtual counterparts?

Over the past five years there has been a huge increase in the number of children who own a cell phone (ages 8 through 18). Numbers jumped from 39 percent to 66 percent. For iPods and MP3 players, ownership jumped from 18 percent to 76 percent, according to the foundation’s study.

The report goes on to say, “While the study cannot establish a cause and effect relationship between media use and grades, there are differences between heavy and light media users in this regard.” About 47 percent of what the foundation deems “heavy” media users get fair or poor grades, compared to 23 percent of “light” users. The foundation admits the relation “may or may not be influenced by their media use patterns.”

However, I think the evidence speaks for itself.

From 2004 to 2009, the amount of time children spent watching an actual TV set decreased. But through the use of the Internet, iPods and cell phones, total TV consumption increased.

One step in the right direction is setting household rules. “…When parents do set limits, children spend less time with media: those with media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day than those with no rules,” says the foundation.

For the parents: set your own limits. Save yourself, so you can help save our youth.