Parents and Media (continued)

• Four in ten children (42%) live in a home where the TV set is on in the background most of the time even when no one is watching. More than half (58%) live in homes where the TV is usually on during mealtimes.¹²
• Among children age 8 and older, two-thirds (65%) have a TV in their bedroom, nearly half (45%) have a video game player there, and a third (36%) have a VCR.¹³

Media Rules

Rules about media use are diffi cult to enforce in homes with multiple TV sets, media in kids' bedrooms, children of different ages and interests, and parents who are usually not in the same room when kids are using media.

• At least two-thirds of children report having a "no use" rule for TV, the Internet, and video games until homework or chores are done.¹⁴
• About half of all kids have some rules about how much or what they can watch on TV.¹⁵ About 7 in 10 kids say their parents set content restrictions for where they go online, and half report they may play only certain video games.¹⁶
• More children report time limits for going online (59%) than for playing video games (42%) or watching TV (39%).¹⁷ More teens have limits for talking on the telephone (47%) than for watching TV (40%) or playing computer games (35%).¹⁸
• What parents say they do often does not match what kids say their parents do: roughly half of parents say they limit video game playing time and check ratings to select game purchases, but only 13% of kids report time limits and fewer (7%) say their parents did not allow them to purchase a game because of its rating.¹⁹ Likewise, a majority of parents say they enforce time limits on Internet use, surf together, and check up on sites their children have visited, but most teens say they do not have time limits or go online with their parents, and less than one-third believe that their parents have ever checked where they have gone online.

Monitoring Media

Parents and children using media together and talking about it is the most eff ective strategy parents can use to help children become selective and critical media consumers.

• The best estimate is that parents watch TV with their younger children (ages 2–7) about one-fifth (19%) of the child's total TV time, and that they almost never watch with tweens (6%) and teens (2%).²¹
• The majority of children ages 6–12 (76%) say an adult is usually in the same room or nearby when they go online at home; for teens, that number drops to onethird (35%). Most parents (69%) and children (61%), including teens, believe that parents have a strong influence over which Web sites children visit.²²

Media Ratings

Media ratings and parental advisories were developed as guidelines to help parents select appropriate content for their children. Movie ratings have been used since 1968, music advisories since 1985, video game ratings since 1994, and TV ratings (TV Parental Guidelines) since 1997.

• While 9 out of 10 parents think that media ratings are a good idea and find them helpful when they use them, many are not aware of all the diff erent ratings and are often confused about they mean.²³
• According to a recent survey, almost 8 in 10 parents (78%) support the creation of a single, universal ratings system that would apply to all media, rather than the mix of ratings currently used. The majority of parents (70%) would also prefer that an independent group of parents, educators, and child development experts oversee the ratings.²⁴

V-Chip TV Sets

Parents who own a TV set manufactured after January 1, 2000 have a blocking technology called a V-chip that can be programmed to screen out shows with TV ratings they deem inappropriate.²⁶

• By 2001, 2 out of 5 parents (40%) owned a V-Chip TV set and 7% had used it to monitor their children's TV viewing.²⁷ Of all parents who have a V-Chip TV set, more than half (53%) don't know it. Of all parents who know they have a V-Chip TV set, two-thirds (64%) have chosen not to use it and one-third (36%) have used it.²⁸
• The two most common reasons parents give for not using the V-Chip are that an adult is usually nearby when their children watch TV, and that they trust their children to make their own decisions.²⁹

Internet Filters

Approximately one-third of parents with home Internet connections have installed blocking technology such as fi ltering software or Internet Service Provider (ISP) controls to prevent children from accessing objectionable material.³⁰