The Changing Nature of Couch Time

copyright Threeminds.organic.com
by Zachary Thatcher
published September 22, 2006

We’ve all heard people complain about youth habits pointing to the inevitable decay of society: American children are walled off from the outdoors as they obsessively play video games, watch DVDs and devour mass-produced calorie-laden junk food, making us into a nation of bulging zombies who can’t read. Some of this criticism is fair, but it’s also missing the point of how media trends alter our engagement with the world.

A few days ago, Marita Scarfi sent around a study describing college students' latest media habits. According to Burst Media, many college students spend more time online than they do watching TV. To me, this indicates an important finding: the vast wasteland of television has been quickly supplanted by the hyper-social interactivity of the Internet for younger folk. All that time indoors may be paying off.

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