Has The Web Become As Important To Kids As TV?

by Jennifer Johnson — Saturday, December 18, 2010, 12:15 PM EDT

For years, parents have punished misbehaving kids by banning them from watching TV. Now, a new report shows that Internet access is on the same playing field as TV in many parents' eyes. According to a report from researchers at the University of Southern California, more and more parents are limiting Internet access as a form of punishment as well.

Really, this should come as no surprise given the amount of TV shows and other entertainment-related activities we enjoy over the Web. Among the parents surveyed, two-thirds restrict access to the TV as punishment. This number has remained fairly static for 10 years. By contrast, the number of parents who limit Internet access has nearly doubled in the last 10 years. Over half (57 percent) of the parents surveyed said they withheld Internet access to punish their kids. In 2000, only 32 percent of parents said they limited Internet access during punishment.

Even though parents are beginning to see less of a difference between TV watching and Internet use, parents still seem to be more comfortable with the amount of time kids spend on the computer—71 percent of parents felt their kids' Internet time was "just about right" compared to 51 percent for TV time.

Tags: Television, Internet, Research, Study, Survey, Report, statistic

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer grew up around technology. From an early age, she was curious about all things related to computers. As a child, Jennifer remembers spending nights with her dad programming in BASIC and taking apart hard drives to see what was inside. In high school, she wrote her senior term paper on her experiences with building custom computers.

Jennifer graduated from the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. After college, she began writing full-time for various PC and technology magazines. Later, she transitioned to the Web. In these roles, Jennifer has covered a variety of topics including laptops, desktops, smartphones, cameras, tablets, and various consumer electronics devices. When she's not playing with or writing about the latest gadget, Jennifer loves to spend time with her family, capture memories with her camera, and scrapbook.

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