D is for Digital: An Analysis of the Children’s Interactive Media Environment

The 58-page report analyses the United States (US) children’s interactive media environment with a 2007 review of more than 300 mass marketed, informal learning products for children ages 3 to 11. It examines key factors influencing the environment, scans the current state of the market, and makes recommendations to inform research, production, and policy to expand quality educational media for children. It proposes to raise national awareness of the importance of interactive technologies in accelerating children's learning. The report finds that digital media is ever-present in young children's lives, but is not being used to the fullest advantage in their education.

It review two categories of factors influencing the marketplace - those that reflect children’s media usage and those that reflect consumer market trends - and the current state of the market.

From the executive summary:

• "Children’s Media Usage

 

1. Children are using digital media more often and at an earlier age, beginning to use electronic gadgets at age 6.7, as opposed to age 8.1 in 2005 (NPD, 2007).
   
2. Increasingly, children are multitasking, packing 8.5 hours of media consumption into 6.5 hours of time (Rideout et al., 2005).
   
3. Parents accept that children have become digital media consumers, with a majority believing that video games are a positive part of their children’s lives (Entertainment Software Association, 2006), and that the Internet helps their children learn (Cable in the Classroom, 2007).

 

• Consumer Market Trends

 

1. Children are flocking to virtual worlds, with four of the top five virtual world sites being youth-focused in June 2007 (Prescott, 2007).
   
2. The recent success of Nintendo’s Wii has spawned significant investment in the casual gaming market.
   
3. Video content has become ubiquitous on the Web, with online video consumption rivalling all other major activities online in 2007 (Bieber et. al., 2007).
   
4. Youth are generating their own content, and there are a host of new digital media products on the market designed to help them do just that.
   
5. Media convergence has never been more prominent, providing children with continuous round-the-clock access to content.
   

• Current State of the Market - Four industries constitute the bulk of digital media products that children consume: toys, video games, computer software and Web destinations.
  

 

1. Toys: Educational toys, referred to in the industry as Electronic Learning Aids (ELAs), represent a significant category within the [US]$22 billion toy industry.
   
2. Video Games: Very few educational video games that teach traditional school skills are available within the influential [US]$12.5 billion video game industry.
   
3. Computer Games: Though the [US]$1 billion computer game industry is smaller than the others examined for this report, both parents medium for learning, highlighted by the fact that the best selling children’s educational computer games outsold the best selling entertainment games in 2006 (NPD, 2006).
   
4. Web Destinations: Given the widespread acceptance of the Internet as a prominent and enduring form of media, it is not surprising that a multitude of Web destinations aim to educate while entertaining children."

The report offers a number of recommendations for educational products based on existing trends and learning theory. It also promotes the development of evidence-based standards to regulate product labelling using educational claims, as well as policies protecting children from commercial marketing, particularly in virtual world media environments.