New Study Shows U.S. Parents More Worried About Media Than Sex or Alcohol Abuse

U.S. parents are more worried about the amount of time their kids spend watching television or chatting with friends on the Internet than about underage sex or alcohol abuse, according to a new study released by a San Francisco-based group that studies the impact of media on kids.

Almost 60 percent of 1,138 U.S. parents surveyed were either very concerned or strongly concerned about children spending too much of their time with different media outlets. By comparison, about 45 percent of parents said they were as concerned about their kids engaging in sex or using alcohol, worries about thier children's weight problems or struggling in school also ranked lower.

"Intuitively, parents have a sense that too much media isn't a good thing, but they can't quite put their finger on why," James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense Media, said in a statement. (Reuters)

Common Sense Media and the Aspen Institute are hosting a conference in New York this week where chief executives from some of the largest media companies -- Time Warner Inc. CBS Corp. Warner Music Group Corp. and Comcast Corp. -- will discuss the media's influence on kids and what they can possibly do to fix this very, very terrible problem for America's parents.

TV viewing topped the list of media categories that worried parents, following by Internet use and playing video games. Listening to the radio and reading magazines were deemed as the safest types of media, according to the poll.

(Reuters, CNN)