Internet “Users” Overtaking TV “Viewers”
As new parents, my husband and I are already debating over how much we should let our daughter watch TV when she gets older. Looks like we’ve been debating over the wrong medium.
According to a recent study, the Internet is close to surpassing television as the “most essential medium†for news and entertainment among Americans. In fact, Americans aged 12-44 have already identified the internet as the most essential medium in their lives, heralding a major paradigm shift, especially given the fact that just five years ago, the internet came in as least essential.
So, why is the internet gaining such rapid ground?
Perhaps it’s because the internet is much more than a visual medium. We just watch television, but the internet’s interactivity allows us to become participants.
For example, instead of watching a children’s program about eating healthy, kids can go online and play Dora the Explorer’s food pyramid game and develop their own healthy picnic menu. In addition, parents can get tips and recipes and get a lot more information on how to incorporate healthy eating into their family’s lifestyle.
Certainly playing on the internet is not healthier than playing outside, but is it better than plopping a kid down in front of the TV?
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Jay Ferrari said,
on July 2nd, 2007 at 10:40 am
Great point Jill. My daughter just pushed past the 19 month mark, and we haven’t had TV in the house since she was born because Meg wanted to follow the APA recommendations of “no TV before age 2″. (We watch movies on our laptops and have a set stashed in the attic for surreptitious viewings of soaps and football games if we’re really in withdrawl).
It’s been an interesting time, not having the television looming in the living room. What happens, however, is that we both fire up our laptops as soon as the kid’s asleep, blogging, visiting favorite forums, and meeting the demands of grad school. It seems much more active than just watching television. Maybe my daughter will get her own laptop for her 2nd birthday.