American children spend nearly as much time with TV, computers and other media daily as they do in the classroom.

A Kaiser Family Foundation national study of media use, the first of its kind, found that “the typical American child” spends five hours and 29 minutes a day using media. That's one minute less than the daily minimum instructional time for Ohio secondary schools.

And kids age 8 and older use media an hour and 15 minutes more daily, according to the “Kids & Media @ The New Millennium” report.

"This is a wake-up call. It says media use is a major force in an American child's development and socialization, and we don't know enough about it," said Ellen A. Wartella, dean of the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin

Until now, educators believed that the greatest influences on children were their parents, home and school, she said. “I think we need to add media to the list.”

Experts called for more study about how marketing in fluences, sedentary lifestyles and socially isolated behavior affect children.

Debbie Marques is one of many Tristate parents already limiting media exposure. Her sons, ages 31/2 and 19 months, watch only one or two hours a day of television, mostly public television and Nickelodeon. “I don't want it to be a substitute for time with me,” the Miami Township woman said. “I chose to be home and not working. Having them sit in front of the TV is not quality parenting.”

Still, even though she doesn't want television to be a baby sitter, there are times when she's preparing dinner that the only way to get it done is to turn on PBS' Arthur cartoon.

Media on rise
The Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent national health care philanthropy, surveyed 3,155 children ages 2-18 from last November to April. One of the foundation's goals is to examine the impact of media on society.

The study defined media as TV, computers, video games, radio, books, magazines, audio tapes or compact discs. It found:

• Among children 8 and older, 65 per cent have a bedroom TV and 21 per cent have a bedroom computer. Of all children ages 2-18, more than half (53 per cent) have a bedroom TV.
• Of all kids, 69 per cent have a computer at home, and 45 per cent have Internet access at home.
• Of children 8 and older, 61 per cent live in homes with no rules about TV use.
  The study also yielded a couple surprises:
  
• Only 9 per cent of children spend more than an hour daily using the computer for fun.
  
• 82 per cent of children read for fun daily, averaging 44 minutes a day (excluding school or homework).
  

Lani Ray, a school nurse at Pierce Elementary in Hamilton, was alarmed by the percentage of time children spend watching television. She believes there's a connection between too much media consumption and violence or acting out among children.

The study wasn't all bad news, though. “There was more reading going on than I had anticipated,” she said. Thirteen-year-old Matthew Wolking of rural Crittenden was surprised, too, by the high numbers of readers. “I wouldn't have thought it would be that much. I thought most kids just plopped down and watched TV and stuff like that.”

That's entertainment
The trendiness of kids with personal televisions was a key finding in the report. “Lots of my friends have TVs in their bedroom,” said Sara Steinbeck, 11, Anderson Township. “I asked for that for Christmas.”

The revelation that more than half the nation's children — 65 percent — have TVs in their bedrooms set off alarm bells for Ms. Wartella, the Texas professor,. “That's remarkable,” she said. “... When there are television and computers in the bedroom, we know those children use them more.”

Kathleen Hart, a child clinical psychologist and a Xavier University psychology professor, agreed. “We know that kids are spending more time by themselves, and the easiest way to entertain yourself is with the TV or a computer,” she said.

Mrs. Marques doesn't let her kids have televisions in their bedrooms even though 31/2-year-old Nicolas has his grandparents' old computer. She said she can't imagine letting him have a TV in his room, even when he is a teen. “You couldn't control what he is watching,” she said. With the computer, at least she has control over the software he uses. She lets him use educational software.

What's it mean?
Now that the Kaiser Foundation has tabulated media use, experts want to see it quantified. “We need to find out exactly what's happening in those 63/4 hours,” Ms. Hart said. Kids could be playing interactive educational computer games, or just staring glassy-eyed at TV shows, she said. “But even if kids are thinking in front of a screen, they're not moving around a lot. Certainly children have become much more sedentary. The obesity rate has gone up dramatically,” Ms. Hart said.

Ms. Wartella, who has been a consultant for PBS' Sesame Street and The Magic School Bus, would like to see annual studies that could chart changes in kids' media use in future years. And she would like to know more about the media impact on vast array of areas, such as a child's sense of identity and social behavior. She also wants research on the effect of such things as rap lyrics and sexual messages in advertising. “Have you listened to the music? How does it give them attitudes about ethnic groups?” said Ms. Wartella, the mother of two teen-agers. “This study says you can't look at the nature of childhood in American life today without looking at media,” Ms. Wartella said. “Media is a major socializing force, and we don't know enough about it.”