Too much Internet for kids but far too much TV says study

Stan Beer
Thursday, 30 November 2006 00:16

IT Industry - Market

A study from the University of Southern California found that 21% of parents believe their kids spend too much time on the Internet. However, this figure pales by comparison to the 49% who believe their kids watch too much TV.

Other findings from the annual study show that mobile phone messaging is a popular (and expensive!) pastime among young people, with about half of people under the age of 24 using text and other forms of messaging compared to just over a quarter of all cell phone users.

Children overwhelmingly believe the Internet is essential for their studies but parents, according to the study, are skeptical with a clear majority saying that Internet use has not affected grades of their kids.

Nearly half of the parents surveyed say they have banned Internet use as a form of punishment.