ver the last decade, computers have become a fixture in many children's lives, says a report to be issued today by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Seventy percent of American households with children ages 2 to 17 have computers, and 52 percent are connected to the Internet.
The technology has spread with tremendous speed. Just five years ago, only 15 percent of households with children ages 2 to 17 had Internet access, and slightly less than half had a computer. The report says that 20 percent of children ages 8 to 16 have computers in their bedrooms and that 11 percent have access to the Internet there.
But children's access to computers varies with family income. Only about 22 percent of children in families with annual incomes of less than $20,000 had access to a home computer, compared with 91 percent of those in families with incomes of more than $75,000. Even where they do have access to a computer, children in low-income families used it less that those in high-income families, perhaps in part because the low-income families were less likely to have an Internet connection.
One national survey described in the report found that children ages 2 to 5 averaged 27 minutes a day at the computer, while children 6 to 11 spent 49 minutes a day, and those 12 to 17 averaged 63 minutes a day. The more technology available, the more time children spend in front of screens. Over all, a 1999 survey found, children ages 2 to 17 who had computers, video games and a television, spent on average 4 hours 48 minutes a day in front of some type of screen, compared with 3 hours 40 minutes for children who did not have computers or video games.
Though almost every school in the nation is now wired to the Internet, great disparities are evident in how they use computers, says the report, which includes studies by several experts. Henry Jay Becker, a professor at the University of California at Irvine, said schools serving poor children were more likely to emphasize word processing and other simple tasks while those serving more affluent students taught computer skills to promote problem-solving and a deeper understanding of an area of study.
"Efforts to ensure equal access to computer-related learning opportunities at school must move beyond a concern with the numbers of computers in different schools toward an emphasis on how well those computers are being used to help children develop intellectual competencies and technical skills," Professor Becker wrote.
The new report makes it clear that very little is known yet about the effects of home computer use on children's physical, cognitive and social development.
The report does say computers can be an especially effective learning tool for children with disabilities, and it describes studies that show that some computer games can improve children's spatial skills and visual attention.
Especially for young boys, games are the dominant form of computer use. And the report says there is little evidence that moderate game playing affects children's social skills or relationships. But there are concerns about the 7 percent to 9 percent of children who play computer games for 30 hours or more a week.
The report makes clear the degree to which some Internet uses have become the special domain of children, with teenagers using instant messaging, chat rooms and e-mail to stay in touch with friends.
In the HomeNet Project, a field trial on home Internet use, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University provided computers and Internet connections to 93 Pittsburgh-area families, made up of 208 adults and 110 children ages 10 to 19. The children were much heavier users of the Internet and all its services than were their parents. Ten percent of the children spent more than 16 hours a week on the Internet. Teenagers said they would hurry home from school to have e-mail conversations with the friends they had just left.
"I really want to move to Antarctica," a 16-year-old HomeNet participant said. "I'd want my cat and Internet access and I'd be happy."
