Kids’ still addicted to digital media but total `screen time` decreased: Study

Washington: As kids are getting addicted to smartphones and other digital devices, a new study has revealed that their overall `screen time` has reduced over the last two years.

Common Sense Media conducted the study detailing the way young children consume electronic media, based on a large national survey of children under eight years old and found that in general children 38 percent children under two having used a tablet, smartphone or other mobile device. However, the popularity of the good-old television has not faded yet with two-thirds of kids under two watching TV and about 58 percent of children watch it at least once a day while by contrast, only 17percent of children use a mobile device daily. The study revealed that wealthier families have better access to the Internet than their poorer counterparts and hence their kids tend to be driven to hi-end gadgets and traditional TV respectively, yet over half of families earning less than 30,000 dollars now have smartphones and 20percent have tablets. According to the report, the concept of `zombie children`, who are glued to screens from an early age isn`t quite a reality, as the study revealed that kids are watching much less television overall and the total screen time has dropped 21 minutes over the last two years.