Nielsen: Kids Spending More Time Online

NEW YORK — Young kids are getting online at a faster rate than their parents and older siblings.

A new study from Nielsen Online found that nearly 16 million U.S. children ages 2 to 11 were online in May. They made up about 9.5 percent of Internet users.

The youngest of the set _ 2, 3, and 4-year-olds _ probably aren't yet updating their Twitter accounts with 140-character messages, or posting quiz results to Facebook. Rather, they are sitting in a parent's lap in front of a computer, being exposed to the Internet that way, said Peter Grunwald, president of Grunwald Associates LLC, which specializes in researching kids and technology.

In the past five years, Nielsen said, the number of kids online has grown by 18 percent, compared with just a 10 percent growth among all Internet users. And this growth comes as the total number of U.S. kids under 14 is declining.

In all, the time children spend online grew 63 percent in the past five years, from nearly 7 hours in May 2004 to more than 11 hours online this past May.

Nielsen also found that boys spent 7 percent more time online than girls, but girls viewed 9 percent more Web pages than boys did in May 2009. Grunwald said kids are also beginning to produce their own content rather than use the Web as a passive viewer.

Comments

[lmvd3]

I think the title more aptly should read, "Nielsen Kids Spending More Time Online. Duh."

[VOTER]

Agree.

[BlueZoo]

What gets me is the kids who text rather than simply picking the phone up and calling! What's with that? They text to say they'll be somewhere at a certain time and it takes longer to do that than if they'd called! There's a big disconnect today with our readily available technology and I really do fear it's adding to our kids not knowing how to socially interact with one another!

[cdub1991]

They do it because its new and different and you aren't doing it. It's theirs, not yours. Also, they can do it anywhere--unlike a phone conversation.

[EmeraldWorld]

It IS the age of the internet....

[mediacrazed]

"Nielsen also found that boys spent 7 percent more time online than girls, but girls viewed 9 percent more Web pages than boys did in May 2009."

Pretty much echoes what's always been true about about categorical learning differences between girls and boys.

[UncleJimbo]

NewsFlash! More computers,more kids,more usage!

[BBackSoon]

Now let’s hear how adult internet habits are changing and how many are getting their news from the web as opposed to TV?

Can you tell I dislike and or doubt the FIX News dominance of the ratings?

[ibsteve2u]

uh huh...the worst thing I found about the article is the suggestion that Nielsen might wriggle its way into being the...."au­thoritativ­e"....voic­e on who does what on the web.

Because I have been all over this country...and frankly, the ratio of the gullible to the independent thinkers that I have encountered around this country in no way approximates FIX's Nielsen ratings.

[BBackSoon]

I still feel that the FIX ratings are bought and paid for. There I said it!

I think there is a deal between Rupert and Neilson that either flat out over reports FIX viewers or they skew the numbers somehow to spotlight FIX.

And I have no proof, I just find it hard to believe that many people watch Orally and Beck night after night.

[mediamarv]

Duh!

wonder how much they charged to tell us that?

[VOTER]

Nielsen must be part of the Palin Brain Trust.