Captivating Connections.

are you helping the under agers (log on to facebook)?

Parents often complain about how they don't want their kids doing things online they're not supposed to do or that they cannot track. So what's up with parents helping their kids log on to Facebook if they're not of age?

"The minimum age Facebook setsfor its social network is 13 — in line with federal laws to protect children’s online privacy.

Yet according to a study funded in part by Microsoft and universities, more than half of all parents with 12-year-olds said they knew their children were signed up for the service. One in five parents of 10-year-olds knew of their children’s activity on the site.

Asked how the kids signed up for the service — thus violating the site’s terms of service — nearly seven in 10 parents said they helped their children set up accounts."

Among the top reasons for helping their kids get on line 'illegally'? According to Danah Boyd, a Microsoft researcher, “they don’t want to be told how to be a parent.”

What do you think?

are your kids a part of the ‘app gap’?

Is the 'app gap' the new digital divide?

You’ve probably seen the video with the kid who doesn’t understand how to read a magazine, swiping it like you would a tablet. You may have laughed, you may have cringed, but you probably realized that this may be a part of children’s’ reality today.

 

According to research by Common Sense Media, not only are children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens, but there’s an “emerging ‘app gap’ in which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games while those in low-income families are the most likely to have televisions in their bedrooms.”

 

What’s this reality look like? Focusing on apps, thefirm found that “almost half the families with incomes above $75,000 had downloaded apps specifically for their young children, compared with one in eight of the families earning less than $30,000. More than a third of those low-income parents said they did not know what an ‘app’ — short for application — was.”

 

the kids gaming market is only getting larger.

According to aThe NPD Group, "the rate of kids who are playing video games is far outpacing the segment’s overall population growth, meaning the market is only getting bigger."

Wondering how that's possible?

NPD's “Kids and Gaming 2011" study claims that "the gaming population of kids between the ages of 2 and 17 has grown nearly 13% since 2009, while the population growth has only increased 1.5%.

In 2011, 91% of kids (equating to approximately 64 million people) play games in the U.S., up 9% from 2009, according to the report. The biggest driver of that growth: preschoolers (kids between 2 and 5 years old), who have increased gaming incidence 17% compared with 2009."

are you screwing over your infant?

Whether or not you're currently a parent, or you plan on being one soon, infants, more specifically, their bottoms, are being screwed by the economy and their parents.

According to new data, "sales of diaper-rash cream are up, rising for the third straight year on a unit basis, even though the number of babies has kept declining over that period. Data suggest that babies are getting diaper rash more often because parents are changing their diapers less.

The number of babies ages 2 and under in the U.S. fell about 3% to 8.1 million last year, based on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which tracks the number of live births. Yet SymphonyIRI data show unit sales of disposable diapers fell 9% in the 52 weeks ended Aug. 7, three times as fast as the population of infants. At the same time, unit sales of baby ointments and creams rose 2.8%, despite fewer babies.

Diaper rash doesn't rise to the level of concern that the CDC tracks cases, so sales of diaper-rash cream are one of the better barometers for tracking its frequency. And the trend of diaper-ointment sales rising even as diaper sales decline has been going on since 2009, according to SymphonyIRI data from Deutsche Bank. The disconnect between fewer diapers and more rash cream has intensified in the past year."

ouch!

smartphones as a family tool.

According to research conducted by The Parenting Group publishing company and BlogHer, consumer electronics are seeping into the core of the family structure, impacting the everyday life of families.

The proof?

"71% of moms do not go more than one day without using the Internet, with 40% saying they can go only a few hours without using a mobile phone and the Internet. (Comparatively, only 18% say the same about television.) In fact, 79% said that cell phones are a necessity, compared with 42% saying the same about a typical landline."

This isn't just about Moms, though. "According to the survey, parents are allowing their children to use electronic devices at ever-earlier ages. While parents in a similar survey last year said 13 was the average age to let children have their own mobile phone, respondents this year said they began allowing kids as young as toddlers to use the phone (25% said they allow their 2-year-olds to use the phone). Of course, they're not using them to communicate. According to the survey, the moms are giving the phones to their toddlers as a toy or diversion (23%) or as a game device (15%)."

are you buying electronics for the kids (or simply justifying it that way)?

"According to new research from the NPD Group, it seems many consumer electronics purchases were completed with the express purpose of letting the kids use them. According to the company, 78% of portable video game systems purchased and 56% of portable digital media players were given to kids.

At the same time, the research company found there are almost as many kids using computers (73%) as are using televisions (74%). Three-fifths of kids (60%) are using a portable or console gaming system.

A child's presence is also driving adoption of newer technologies. Among households with a child between the ages of 4 and 14, e-readers and media tablets were acquired at 8% and 5% rates, respectively, over the past year.

kids & media usage in 1993 vs. 2011 (or why having kids scares me).

Nielsen has compared media usage for kids ages 12-17, and it's scary! According to Nielsen...

"Kids Today…

• Are the Heaviest Mobile Video Viewers: On average, mobile subscribers ages 12-17 watched 7 hours 13 minutes of mobile video a month in Q4 2010, compared to 4 hours 20 minutes for the general population.
• Are More Receptive to Mobile Advertising than their Elders: More than half (58%) surveyed in September 2010 said they “always” or “sometimes” look at mobile ads.
• Out-Text All Other Age Groups: In Q1 2011, teens 13-17 sent an average of 3,364 mobile texts per month, more than doubling the rate of the next most active texting demo, 18-24 year olds (1,640 texts per month).
• Talk Less on the Phone: Besides seniors 65-plus, teens talk the least on their phones, talking an average of 515 minutes per month in Q1 2011 versus more than 750 minutes among 18-24 year olds.
• Grew Up in the Age of Social Media—and It Shows: While they make up just 7.4 percent of those using social networks, 78.7 percent of 12-17 year olds visited social networks or blogs.
• Watch Less TV than the General Population: The average American watched 34 hours 39 minutes of TV per week in Q4 2010, a year-over-year increase of two minutes. Teens age 12-17 watch the least amount of TV on average (23 hours 41 minutes per week).
• Spend Less Time on their Computers: American 18 year olds averaged 39 hours, 50 minutes online from their home computers, of which 5 hours, 26 minutes was spent streaming online video."

Wow. When I have a kid will the hospital administer it an iPad in the delivery room??

how the nature of how kids socialize is rapidly changing.

According to NPD Group, "the nature of how kids socialize is changing, with person-to-person (aka, traditional) socialization decreasing as kids get older, being replaced by other forms of socialization such as social network, cell phone usage and video chatting.

According to the report, kids ages 2-4 spent 17.5 hours per week spending actual face time with friends or siblings, with the average hours per week dropping off as kids get older (10.8 hours for ages 9-12).

New technology, activities and entertainment options are having a noticeable impact on how kids are spending their leisure time. While kids have the same number of hours to spend on leisure time (68 leisure hours in a typical week, which has remained constant since 2007), they have more activities in which to engage, requiring them to reprioritize how they spend their time, leading to shifts in the kids' leisure time landscape.

What one person might subjectively put into the category of entertainment, another might consider socializing. This is clearly illustrated by social network sites, which is of course built on the foundation of socializing, but is also popular as an entertainment activity. Similarly, in the world of gaming, online/multi-player games are a prime example of intersection between entertainment and socializing in that you are engaging in a form or entertainment while at the same time interacting and relationship building.

is what's on your gift wish list the same as your kid's?

This can't be shocking, since we're slowly becoming a nation of tech geeks.

"As we plunge into another holiday season in the era of the iGizmo, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between the Christmas cravings of grade-schoolers and grownups.

From gaming systems to do-everything mobile devices and even fancy dolls, many Americans – no matter their age – are clamoring for the same gifts,  say retail experts.

'We certainly see kids migrating to adult-like products (including) iPods, cell phones, video games, and the like,' said Sarah Wood, director of the Amazon.com toys and games store. And the migration goes the other way, too, as adults who may be children at heart want the games, gadgets and even dolls that are popular with the under-18 set.

The top three gift categories for all ages are clothing and accessories, then toys and games, followed by electronics and gadgets, according to researchers at American Express. But when it comes to gadgets especially, the lines blur among the ages."

kids watching more fast food ads than ever before. but are they "loving it"?

SCURRY!

"U.S. youth is being targeted by more fast-food marketing than ever before, according to a new study from Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The study, titled 'Fast Food Facts,'tracked marketing efforts by 12 of the nation's largest fast-food chains, including McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's.

It also examined the calories, fat, sugar and sodium in more than 3,000 kids' meal combos and 2,781 menu items. On the marketing and advertising front, the study found that national fast-food brands are stepping up spending in an effort to hook young consumers, sometimes targeting children as young as two.

Overall spending on fast-food marketing and advertising rose from 2% from $4.1 billion in 2008 to $4.2 billion in 2009, according to figures from Nielsen, cited in the Rudd Center report. From 2007-2009, the number of fast-food ads that preschool-age children see on TV increased 21%, while the figure increased 34% for older children.

Over the same period, preschoolers saw 21% more ads for McDonald's, 9% more for Burger King and 56% more for Subway. The average preschooler now sees almost three fast-food ads per day, while kids ages 6-11 see 3.5 ads per day and teens ages 12-17 see just under five ads per day."

But is it making a difference? You betcha.

"All this advertising appears to be quite effective: 40% of children ages 2-11 ask their parents to go to McDonald's at least once a week, according to the study, with 15% of preschoolers asking to go every day.

As a result, 84% of parents said they take their child ages 2-11 to get fast food at least once a week. There is also a halo effect from advertising (ostensibly) targeting adults: 60% of fast-food ads are for items not included in kids' meals. Meaning: 27% of kids ages 6-11 order items from the adult menus, compared to 21% who order a kids' meal."