Parents see Media, Not Sex, as Top Worry: Study

PARENTS SEE MEDIA, NOT SEX, AS TOP WORRY: STUDY
[SOURCE: Reuters]
U.S. parents are more worried about the amount of time their kids spend watching television or meeting friends on Internet social networks than about sex or alcohol abuse, according to a study released on Monday by Insight Research Group and commissioned by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based group that studies the impact of media on kids. Some 57 percent of parents surveyed were either very concerned or strongly concerned about children spending too much of their time with different media outlets. By comparison, about 45 percent of parents said they were as concerned about their kids engaging in sex or using alcohol. Parents also saw themselves as bearing the biggest responsibility for the way media affects their kids, well ahead of the companies that create TV shows or Internet content, who ranked third on the list. TV viewing topped the list of media categories that worried parents, following by Internet use and playing video games. Listening to the radio and reading magazines were deemed as the safest types of media, according to the poll.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2007-02-05T202231Z_01_N05444191_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-KIDS.xml&WTmodLoc=In...

* See Common Sense Media press release: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/news/press-releases.php?id=48
* See complete survey: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/news/pdfs/National-Parent-Poll.ppt

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/05/BUGV1NT4RG1.DTL&type=tech