We recently posted two articles about a mammoth report published in November, 2015 by Common Sense Media about the way young people in the United States use media and technology. Conducted over six weeks in the early spring of 2015, the study included 2,658 children age eight to eighteen. Tweens were defined as children age eight to twelve, while teens were defined as children age thirteen to eighteen. The four primary goals of the Common Sense Media Census were to document:

• The frequency of tween and teen media use
• The time tweens and teens devote to media use
• The level of enjoyment tweens and teens derive from media use
• Differences in tween and teen media use by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status

In our first article, we offered analysis and commentary on the first two bullet points: frequency of media use and the time tweens and teens devote to media use. We also presented salient facts and figures on what devices tweens and teens use most and the way they use them – passive, interactive, or creative. We ended by identifying the six types of tween media users and five types of teen media users. In our second article, we discussed the last part of the last bullet point above: differences in tween and teen media use by socioeconomic status. In this article, we’ll address the third part of the last bullet point above: differences in tween and teen media use by race and ethnicity. If you like, click here and here to read those articles before reading this one. However, reading those pieces is not necessary for understanding this discussion.

Differences in Tween and Teen Media Use by Race and Ethnicity

The people at Common Sense Media included racial and ethnic categories of analysis for several important reasons. First, to find out if tweens and teens from different racial and ethnic backgrounds consume media in ways specific to their race and ethnicity. Second, to understand how educators, health care providers, and policy makers can best reach individuals from all racial and ethnic backgrounds through media. Finally, to determine whether racial and ethnic differences in media consumption require media producers to use tailored strategies to reach tweens and teens from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. ‘

If the people and organizations responsible for disseminating critical content know where, how, and how much everyone – including people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds – consumes media, they have a better chance of reaching more people. The idea being that knowledge is power, and the more citizens in our country receive important information, the more powerful our society will be.

They found distinct differences in media consumption along racial and ethnic lines. They separated respondents into three categories:

• White
• Black
• Hispanic

The differences were most pronounced in two areas of analysis: total time spent by tweens and teens consuming all media and total time spent by tweens and teens consuming screen media.

The Data on Tween and Teens

Time Consuming All Media: Tweens

• White tweens spent an average of 5 hours and 14 minutes per day consuming all media.
• Black tweens spent an average of 8 hours and 2 minutes per day consuming all media.
• Hispanic tweens spent an average of 6 hours and 44 minutes per day consuming all media.

Time Consuming All Media: Teens

• White teens spent an average of 8 hours and 27 minutes per day consuming all media.
• Black teens spent an average of 11 hours and 10 minutes per day consuming all media.
• Hispanic teens spent an average of 8 hours and 51 minutes per day consuming all media.

Time Consuming Screen-Based Media: Tweens

• White tweens spent an average of 4 hours per day consuming screen-based media.
• Black tweens spent an average of 6 hours and 22 minutes per day consuming screen-based media.
• Hispanic tweens spent an average of 5 hours and 18 minutes per day consuming screen-based media.

Time Consuming Screen-Based Media: Teens

• White teens spent an average of 6 hours and 18 minutes per day consuming screen-based media.
• Black teens spent an average of 8 hours and 26 minutes per day consuming screen-based media.
• Hispanic teens spent an average of 6 hours and 29 minutes per day consuming screen-based media.

What the Differences Mean

At this moment, the media experts at Common Sense offer no explanation as to why there’s significant disparity in total media consumption and total screen-based media consumption between White, Black, and Hispanic tweens and teens. However, knowing these facts most certainly begs the following  questions:

Why do Black tweens consume close to three hours per day more total media than White and Hispanic tweens?

Why do Black tweens consume two hours more screen-based media per day than White teens? And why an hour more than Hispanic tweens?

Why do Black teens consume two hours more screen-based media per day than both White and Black teens?

It appears that Black tweens and teens consume, on an average day, more media than White and Hispanic tweens and teens. What contributes to these differences? Do they align with socioeconomic differences in tween and teen media consumption? Are these differences consistent across gender lines as well? We look forward to reading more studies from Common Sense that address and offer potential answers to these questions. For the time being, we can reflect on the present information, explore and discuss possible explanations ourselves, and wait for the next set of data to arrive.