Turned on, tuned in or dropped out?: Young children's use of television and transmission of social advantage

Abstract

There has been, and is, much talk about how children today have been born into a world of new, digital media. In contrast to their parents-who have been described as 'digital immigrants' because they have had to assimilate to the newly developed electronic environment-these children have been described as 'digital native'. They have never known a world before digital technology. However, despite this breathless talk, it is not until children are well into their teens that their engagement with this new media rivals the time devoted to the older medium-television (Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2009). Nor is it clear that the era of broadcast television has come to an end (Hartley, 2004) and that television is metaphorically 'dead'. At least one television set is found in 99% of Australian households, and nearly half (48%) of all private dwellings not only have two or more televisions, but all these sets are on standby and ready to use. Access to a DVD player or recorder is also very high, with this device found in 88% of Australian homes (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2008a). Australian adults spend, on average, about 2 hours and 46 minutes per day watching television as a main activity or have it running in the background while they do something else (ABS, 2008b; authors' own calculations). Consequently, television is likely to be an integral part of most Australian children's experiences of growing up.