With the explosion of devices and forms of content in today’s media landscape, it is increasingly challenging to measure the time youth spend and the things they do with media and  technology. Media devices are portable, ubiquitous, and integrated as essential tools in young people’s lives, and what counts as “media use” or even “screen time” is harder to define. It is no longer simple to define what “TV” or even “reading” is. And measuring how much time is spent on a particular activity is not straightforward either, since many media are used in short bursts throughout the day, while others may be on in the background all the time.

This is a large-scale study that explores young people's use of the full range of media and technology. It offers a comprehensive picture of the use of media by children, age 8 to 18 in the U.S., including the level of enjoyment, frequency of use, and amount of time devoted to a wide array of media activities and devices.

The purpose of this study is to offer a comprehensive picture of the use of media by young people in the U.S., including the level of enjoyment, frequency of use, and amount of time devoted to a wide array of media activities and devices. As far as we know, this study is the only large-scale, probability-based survey to explore young people’s use of the full range of media.