1. National Trends in Technology and Social Media Use among Preadolescents Sandra Tang, Pamela Davis-Kean, and Jon D. Miller, University of Michigan
Background and Objective
Digital and Social Media
Internet Use by Sex and Region
Figure 3. Purpose for Using the Internet by Sex
The amount of time that children spend using media overall and across different media types has increased dramatically within a 5-year span (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010)
Thus, there is a growing interest among developmental psychologists in understanding how technology and media use relates to children’s academic outcomes (Davis-Kean & Tang, 2015)
Prior trends indicate that preadolescents engage in some of the highest amounts of media consumption (Rideout et al., 2010)
This poster presents contemporary trends in preadolescents’ media and technology use and examines how they are associated with students’ schooling outcomes
Figure 1. Frequency of Digital and Social Media Use by Number of Hours Spent on Homework in a Typical Week
* p < .05
Figure 4. Purpose for Using the Internet by Region of the Country
Sample
Data are drawn from an early release file of data collected in 2015 on a new cohort of 7th graders participating in the Longitudinal Study of Adolescents (LSAY)
N = 3,721; Sex: 51% female, 49% male; Area of Country: 6% Northeast, 37% Midwest, 36% South, 21% West
Figure 2. Frequency of Digital and Social Media Use in a Typical Week by This Year’s Average Grade (student report)
Access to Technology
Results and Next Steps
The most common technologies accessible to 7th graders in 2015 were computers at school (80.84%), smartphones (79.9%), and game consoles (79.06%)
In general, students who use digital and social media more frequently report spending less time on homework and have lower school grades. Also, students with lower than a ‘C’ engage in less interactive media and more solo media.
Internet use is primarily motivated by accessing social media, and there appear to be no differences by sex or region except sex differences in looking up sports information.
Future analyses will examine digital and media use by extracurricular activities, and compare child with parent reports of their own and children’s use of technology, and digital and social media.