PR Newswire Broadcast Minute for Thursday, March 10, 2005

PR Newswire Broadcast Minute for Thursday, March 10, 2005

'Media Multi-tasking' Changing the Amount and Nature of Young People's Media Use

Children and teens are spending an increasing amount of time using "new media" like computers, the Internet and video games, without cutting back on the time they spend with "old" media like T-V, print and music. That's according to a new study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Instead, because of the amount of time they spend using more than one medium at a time, they're managing to pack increasing amounts of media content into the same amount of time each day. The study was called Generation M: Media in the Lives of eight to 18 Year-olds.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2894542

Party Affiliation and Political Philosophy Show Little Change, According to National Harris Poll

The Harris Poll says U-S adults are still almost equally divided between Democrats (34%) and Republicans (31%), with the Democrats maintaining a very small advantage. One quarter of all adults consider themselves Independents.

The Harris Poll also found that conservatives continue to outnumber liberals by 36 to 18 percent but that the largest number of people think of themselves as moderates (41%). The remarkable thing about these numbers is how little they have changed over the past 30 to 40 years. Harris Interactive data over four decades show that the average numbers of moderates have remained at 40 or 41 percent, and that conservatives have only varied between 32 and 38 percent, while liberals have remained at a steady 18 percent since the 1970s.

However, the long term trend for party identification has changed over the last 40 years, with the Democratic lead declining from 21 percentage points in the 1970s, to 11 points in the 1980s, seven points in the 1990s, and five points in this decade.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2894723

Consumers Play up to 45 Minutes of Games Daily While Commuting Reveals New Survey

Almost one third of all commuters play games during their daily travel to work. That's according to a new survey on game playing habits conducted by Trymedia Systems, secure digital distribution services provider and operator of the world's largest distribution network for downloadable games.

The "Travel and Commute Gaming" study, an online survey of more than Eight-thousand game players, showed that 30 percent of commuters turned on their laptops, clicked on their mobile phones or used their portable gaming device to play games. Of those who played games to and from work, the average length of game play was 23 minutes per trip.

The survey also polled those who travel by airplane about their gaming habits. While reading, sleeping and watching in-flight movies remain popular, 30 percent of those who took at least one air trip per year said they often played games and 16 percent said they played games every time they flew. Doing work on an airplane was last on the list of in-flight activities. Other results include:

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2894497

Backpacks, Lunch Boxes and Cells? ... Nearly Half of US Teens and Tweens Have Cell Phones, According to NOP World mKids Study

N-O-P World Technology has announced results of its mKids Study, revealing that cell phone ownership has topped 16 million among teens and tweens nationwide, with almost half of ten to 18 year olds in the U-S owning a cell phone.

In its fifth wave of tracking teen cell ownership and use in the top 25 U-S markets, the study found that cell phones are the newest school accessory, with ownership among 12-14 year olds increasing from 13 percent in February 2002 to 40 percent in December 2004. In addition, 73 percent of 18 year olds own cell phones as well, a 15 percent increase from 2002, and three-quarters of 15 to17 year olds also carry cell phones, up from 42 percent in 2002.

Full story at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=2895044

The PR Newswire Broadcast Minute is available by email at no charge to members of the media who sign up for PR Newswire for Journalists, ( http://www.prnewswire.com/media ). For more information, contact Rob Fisher at 408-365-8793 or email rob.fisher@prnewswire.com .

PRNewswire -- March 10

Source: PR Newswire

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