What's Your Daily Media Diet?

Recently, I came across an interesting article that studied the use of media amongst young people in the U. S. I’d like to share some of the findings of the study done by Common Sense Media, a non-profit dedicated to helping kids, parents, and teachers thrive in the complex world of technology and media.

The study showed, among other fascinating statistics, that tweens (8 – 12 years old) spend an average of nearly 6 hours and teens (13 – 18 years old) an average of nearly 9 hours a day engaging in media. This is excluding time spent using media for school or for homework.

Click here to see the full infographic. Or, If you’d like to check out the full report click here.

I was initially stunned by those numbers. And then, after a little self-reflection and calculation I came to the realization that often my daily media use isn’t terribly different. Between email, news, work, social media, and the occasional Netflix vortex it very quickly adds up.

This isn’t about what’s right or wrong in terms of media use. This isn’t about shaming or what we should do differently. The point here is that this is about raising our level of awareness.  Bringing awareness to where our time is spent each day is a critical first step.  By raising our awareness around how frequently we engage with technology and what type of technology we engage in we can begin cultivating a healthier relationship with it. Instead of unconsciously surfing the web or scrolling through social media we now have a choice.

Take a moment to reflect on where you are spending your time each day in terms of media use. From there we can ask ourselves how does that help, or hinder us from achieving our goals and moving forward with purpose.