Exploring children's naturalistic educational media use: Prevalence, domains, and correlates

Media use is a pervasive context in children's lives and has the potential to shape development. This study examines the prevalence of educational content in first graders' media use, the educational domains represented, and whether educational media use is related to socioeconomic status, child gender, and time spent using media and reading. Caregivers of 346 first graders reported children's three to five most-used shows/videos and three to five most-used apps/games, which were coded for educational content and domain. Caregivers also reported demographics and time children spent using media and reading. Educational content comprised a small but measurable portion of media use and gender but not socioeconomic status is related to educational media use. Educational media use was associated with less time spent using media and more time spent reading. Findings have implications for the promotion and creation of educational media for different populations and in diverse domains.