Children’s use of technology #musdigi

Did a bit of a tooling around the web in October looking at how children/families are using technology. Here’s some of what I found (mostly thanks to Dana Allen-Griel’s assistance!).

Research studies:

• Centre for Children and Technology Ready to Learn Research Studies
• Kaiser Family Foundation Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds
• ABS 4901.0 – Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, Apr 2012
• Common Sense Media Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America: A Common Sense Media Research Study
• Australian Museum Research/blogs:
  • Smartphones and apps research findings
  • Parents and Kids Use of Social Media
  • Multiscreening/tablets Google research

Websites and apps:

• Museums and the Web Best of the Web Awards
• eBizmba most popular kids websites based on usage stats
• Digital trends best websites for kids
• The Guardian 50 best apps for children

The Common Sense Media study found that children’s access to mobile media devices increased significantly since 2011 and the time spent using these devices tripled. They discovered that:

• children spend less time using “traditional” media such as TV, DVDs and video games
• TV still dominates screen time but the nature of television watching has changed – there is more control over what and when TV is watched and it has become a more social experience through participation in social media
• although gaps between socio-economic groups still persisted this was getting closer

We’ll be looking into this in more detail during 2014 so watch this space for updates. While you’re at it check out Richella’s post about our new Lucy app!