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In American homes, the television is on approximately 6 hours a day on average. Yet little is known about the impact of growing up in the near constant presence of television. This study examines the prevalence and developmental impact of 'heavy-television' households on very young children aged 0 to 6 drawn from a nationally representative sample (N = 756). Thirty-five percent of the children lived in a home where the television is on 'always' or 'most of the time,' even if no one is watching. Regardless of their age, children from heavy-television households watched more television and read less than other children. Furthermore, children exposed to constant television were less likely to be able to read than other children. Keywords: young children; media use; heavy television use; household television; reading skills

Parents were interviewed about the media habits of their 6-month to 6-year-old children. For children who had used computers, linear increases in computer usage occurred across this age range with a shift from using a computer on a parent's lap at about age 2 1/2 to autonomous computer and mouse use at about age 3 1/2. There were almost no gender differences in early computer patterns. Families with higher incomes and higher education levels were more likely to own computers and to have Internet access from home. Latino families were least likely to own a computer; Latino and African American families were less likely than Caucasian families to have Internet access at home. Parents perceived computers favorably for children's learning. No relationship was found between the frequency with which children play computer games and the likelihood that they can read, but increased nongame computer use was associated with increased likelihood of reading. Keywords: computers; infants; preschoolers; ethnicity; gender

Most software programs that block a user's access to pornographic Web sites do not substantially block access to health Web sites unless they are set at the highest level of restriction. At the highest restriction level, 91% of pornographic sites and 24% of health sites would be blocked. At the least restrictive level, 87% of pornographic sites and 1.4% of health sites would be blocked. For this reason, it makes sense to set these programs at the least restrictive level.

This article focuses on the impact of media on young children. Recent years have seen an explosion in electronic media marketed directly at the very youngest children in our society: a booming market of videotapes and DVDs aimed at infants aged 1 to 18 months, the launching of the first television show specifically targeting children as young as 12 months old, and a multimillion dollar industry selling computer games and even special keyboard toppers for children as young as 9 months old. The striking dearth of empirically based knowledge stands in stark contrast to popular, policy, parental, and academic interest in the impact of media on young children.