March 13, 2008
Teen Screen Time Sometimes Hits 40 Hours
TV, Videos, Computers Eat Up as Much Time As Full-Time Job for Some Teens, Study Shows
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A recent study show that teenagers are spending as much as 40-plus hours per week in front of television and/or computer screens. (AP)
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That news comes from a Canadian study of nearly 1,300 teens in Montreal.
The teens completed four surveys a year for five years, starting in 1999, when they were in seventh grade. The surveys tracked "screen time," which includes TV, computers, and videos.
Here are the results:
The American Heart Association posted those findings in a news release for its 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology.
Children in low-income neighborhoods tended to report more screen time than kids in wealthier areas, note Tracie Barnett, Ph.D., and colleagues.
"We should make sure that teens living in these neighborhoods have access to safe and appealing active alternatives to sitting in front of screens," Barnett says in a news release.
Barnett's team will present its study today at the American Heart Association's conference in Colorado Springs, Colo.
By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
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