The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Ages Zero to Eight, 2020

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This report presents the findings from the fourth wave of Common Sense Media’s ongoing series of surveys about the media lives of young children in the United States. The series began nearly a decade ago in 2011; a total of more than 5,700 respondents have been surveyed over this period. 

As far as we are aware, this is the only nationally-representative, probability-based study tracking the use of media by children from birth through age eight in the United States. We do this study because of our conviction that media and technology are absolutely central to children’s lives.

The findings cover the full spectrum of media, from print to audio to video, including reading, music, television, online videos, and gaming. New items include findings on audio books, podcasts, virtual reality, smart speakers, and smart watches.

The data cover a wide range of measures, including:

  • The frequency of children’s use of various types of media and the amount of time they spend in various media activities;

  • The context of their media use (including the home media environment, co-use with parents, and the use of media during meals and before bed);

  • The types of media content used (such as genres of online videos children watch, use of educational programming across devices, and how media content is selected);

  • Parents’ attitudes about various concerns that have been raised about children and media; and

  • Parents’ experiences with the impact of media on their child (for learning, creativity, and social-emotional development).

In addition, the report explores differences in media usage by age, gender, parent education, household income, and race/ethnicity. The use of a probability-based methodology means that we have a sample of parents that is truly representative. The surveys include parents from across the country, rich and poor, the highly educated and those who never finished high school, from two-parent and single-parent families, and representing a diversity of racial and ethnic groups.”