According a new Kaiser Family Foundation study, American children are currently spending an average of seven and a half hours a day watching TV, using cell phones, social networking, and listening to iPods.

The study found the amount of time U.S. kids aged 8-18 spent using media increased by an hour and seventeen minutes a day over the past five years, from 6:21 in 2004 to 7:38 in 2009. Over the past five years, the number of children who own cell phones has risen from 39 percent in 2004 to 66 percent in 2009.

According to the study parental control made a big difference in the amount of media consumed by kids with those kids spending almost three hours less per day using media. However, only three in ten young people reported limits on their media use.

Source: New Study Sees Increase in Kids’ Use of Electronic Media, myfox New York, January 20, 2010

Tags: Parental control, media consumption