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Electronic media have become so integrated into the American experience it’s difficult to imagine a time when people used paper maps to navigate the streets in an unfamiliar town and had a conversation with somebody in a coffee shop. Still, the results of a recent study by Common Sense, a nonprofit “dedicated to improving the lives of kids, families and educators,” is enough to make even the most dedicated Tweetaholic park her iPhone in the top drawer, or at least set it to vibrate. According to the study, which was based on a national sample of 2,600 children between the ages of 8 and 18, tweens between the ages of 8 and 12 spend six hours a day on average consuming media and teenagers 13-18 are viewing media nine hours a day. Not all of that viewing was classified as “screen time,” because the study also counted reading. Still, according to the study, tweens spend about four-and-a-half hours in front of a screen each day, and teens about six-and-a-half hours. And those results exclude time spent using media for school or homework. The numbers, which can be viewed at commonsensemedia.org, strongly support the link several studies have already made between increased TV use and childhood obesity, which has increased in 6- to 11-year-olds in the U.S. to 18 percent in 2012 from 7 percent in 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children’s access to entertainment media should be limited to one or two hours per day, all of which should be “high-quality content.” In addition, the group recommends children’s bedrooms be made screen-free, devoid of televisions, computers or video games, and that the TV be turned off during dinner. Andrew Gay, an assistant professor of digital media at Southern Oregon University, followed those recommendations to the letter with his first-born daughter, but as countless other parents have discovered, that became more challenging when his second child was born. “It’s kind of hard to have one kid who’s watching an hour a day and another who’s not,” he said. “And then really our whole media policy went to hell once we moved because we had a 3,000-mile road trip. We got a DVD player just for the trip, and once we got here it just became a crutch, and now our kids no doubt watch more media than they should.” At Ashland High School, students are allowed to bring their various screens — smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. — on campus, but are not allowed access during class unless they are “granted specific permission” by a teacher, AHS interim principal Erika Bare said. Those restrictions extend to texting. But, Bare added, some students may access an e-book version of a print book that the rest of their class is studying. “As a school,” Bare said, “we have tried to evolve by leveraging all of the educational benefits of technology while also acknowledging the consistent distraction of social media.” Ashland Middle School has a similar policy that is more strict than the high school’s version. A short paragraph in the AMS student parent handbook reads: “MP3 players, iPods, radios, cellphones and/or pagers may not be used during the school day.” The Common Sense media report shows that once the final bell rings, however, all bets are off. The study breaks down the daily media use by age, gender, race and socioeconomic status. Some of its findings: • Multitasking among teens has become commonplace, as half of them tackle their homework while simultaneously using social media and watching TV. In addition, 60 percent text while doing homework and 76 percent listen to music at the same time. • Twenty-three percent of tweens are video gamers and 15 percent are social networkers, compared to 20 percent and 10 percent of teens, respectively. • Boys and girls differ mightily in their choice between social media and video games, with girls strongly favoring social media and boys video games. Tween girls spend an average of 26 minutes a day on social media and 12 minutes playing video games, while tween boys play video games 43 minutes a day and use social media only 6. Teen girls are on social media an hour and a half a day on average and rarely play video games (seven minutes a day), while teen boys play video games 56 minutes a day and engage on social media 52 minutes a day. • TV and music are still the most popular forms of media for both teens and tweens, with tweens favoring TV (62 percent watch daily) and teens music (66 percent listen daily). • Children trade in their tablets for smartphones as they get older, as 53 percent of tweens own their own tablet and 24 percent their own smartphones, a ratio that flip-flops when they enter their teenage years, 37 percent to 67 percent. Joe Zavala is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 541-821-0829 or [email protected].