Children’s Bedrooms Are Media Havens.

According to a just-released Knowledge Networks/SRI study, almost two-thirds (61%) of children now have a television set in their bedrooms, 17% have their own PC – and own-room access to such media technologies is linked to substantial changes in how kids use media.

The new report, “How Children Use™ Media Technology,” is part of the ongoing service “The Home Technology Monitor™,” which combines semi-annual nationwide surveys of media technology ownership with special reports on key devices and services. These special reports are usually based on Knowledge Networks/SRI’s exclusive “How People Use®” media methodology, a proven technique for studying the quality of media exposures.

Based on interviews with 245 children ages 8 to 17, the new study also shows that 35% of kids have videogame systems in their rooms, 14% have their own DVD player, and 9% have Internet access via a PC in their bedrooms. And the presence of these technologies correlates with significant changes in media behavior; for example, among children with an own-room television:

46% do at least half of their TV viewing on that set;

75% report multitasking while watching TV (vs. 65% of kids without their own sets);

43% have visited a Web site as the result of a TV ad within the past week (vs. 24% of kids without their own TVs); and

50% say they have parental rules for their TV use (vs. 61% of kids without their own sets).

The relatively few kids with own-room Internet access also report substantial effects on their media use:

57% say all of their Internet use takes place in their rooms; and

61% report having parental rules restricting their Web use, compared to 69% of Internet-using kids who do not have own-room Web connections.

“Kids with own-room media access represent an important subgroup of media users,” said David Tice, Knowledge Networks/SRI Vice President, Client Service, and director of “The Home Technology Monitor™.” “Their behavior is more self-directed, in terms of linking media with each other and with other activities, and they have less parental supervision. Understanding the patterns of media behavior indigenous to children’s rooms will only become more important as kids acquire more technologies.”

For more information at http://www.knowledgenetworks.com