October 27, 2011

Raw Data: What Our Kids Is Doing

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Via Brad Plumer, here’s the latest data from Common Sense Media about the media diets of young children in America. To be honest, I’m a little surprised that TV watching is only two hours a day for 5-8 year-olds. On the other hand, I’m sort of appalled that 75% of 0-2 year-olds watch TV, and of those, the average TV-watching time has increased from 1:02 to 1:30 over the past six years. In that age group, it probably ought to be zero. Other interesting nuggets:

  • 30% of kids under two have a TV in their bedroom.
  • Only about 60% of kids read or are read to every day. More reading, please.
  • 92% of high-income kids have high-speed cable. Only 42% of low-income kids do. The divide is about the same along the educational spectrum.

More at the link.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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