Heavy media users report getting lower grades. While the
study cannot establish a cause and effect relationship between media use and grades,
there are differences between heavy and light media users in this regard. About half (47%) of heavy media users say they
usually get fair or poor grades (mostly Cs or lower), compared to about a
quarter (23%) of light users. These
differences may or may not be influenced by their media use patterns. (Heavy
users are the 21% of young people who consume more than 16 hours of media a
day, and light users are the 17% of young people who consume less than 3 hours
of media a day.)
Mary Fahey Colbert on 27 May 12And here is the crux of the matter for me, is it a cause and effect or not? Are the kids who are not doing so well sucked into media because they are already prone to this kind of stimulus (meaning they already have attention issues, just not of diagnosable degree) or are all kids being effected in this way?