Loving Tech and Leaving Tech

The Common Sense Census: Plugged-in Parents of Tween and Teens by Lauricella, A. R., Cingel, D. P., Beaudoin-Ryan, L., Robb, M. B., Saphir, M., & Wartella, E. A
December 1, 2016

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Common Sense Media’s recent survey of nearly 1800 parents found that most (94%) parents highly value educational technology while simultaneously wishing to limit their children’s consumption of it. Two-thirds think that their child’s safe use of media is more important than maintaining their privacy. Fifty percent think that technology use negatively impacts children’s physical activity and 34% worried that it negatively affects sleep. More than half of parents are even concerned that their children may become addicted to using technology. However, parents themselves do not seem to serve as role models for limit setting. Parents consume an average of 9+ hours of screen media each day, including about 1 ½ hours for work. Paradoxically, 78% of parents think that they are good technology role models. The survey data are worth perusing as they offer fascinating results that vary by type of media consumed as well as by parent’s racial, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. Hispanic parents, for instance, tend be more concerned about and more involved in the types of media their children consume. In sum, the survey paints a fuller picture of technology use in students’ lives which may inform how we use technology in school.