Markey, Blunt Reintroduce Bill for Study of Youth Media, Tech Use

Technology “can be a force for good,” but parents, the academic and medical community and lawmakers need better understanding of how tech use and media consumption by youth is affecting attention spans, sleeping, eating and exercise patterns, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Tuesday. He and co-sponsor Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., rolled out the reintroduced Children and Media Research Advancement (CAMRA) Act. Markey said the bill would fund a five-year, $95 million National Institutes of Health initiative on the impact of various tech and media on cognitive, physical and socio-emotional development. They said the research was to look at the effects of mobile devices and apps, social media, movies, TV and videogames.

The bill has tech backing. "It's essential we have government engagement in this kind of research," said Facebook Head-Global Safety Antigone Davis at a congressional briefing Tuesday on the bill. Facebook and other tech companies "really believe this research is essential for us to do our job well" and bring proper products to market, Davis said. Melika Carroll, Internet Association senior vice president-global government affairs, agreed the industry "needs to have better data to be able to make better products, better tools."

Carroll said data exists on such issues, some of it good, but more research is needed and NIH results are expected to be "rigorous and objective and independent." She said NIH weighing in could lead to more consensus on definitions, topics and themes for studying some of these issues.

This kind of research is "overdue," especially since no one else is evaluating media impact on kids at this scope, said Michael Levine, Sesame Workshop chief knowledge officer. He said the results could incentivize private sector R&D on better aligning tech with national educational goals. He said educators have some tech guidelines based on short-term and small-scale studies and there's a need for interdisciplinary research on the influence of tech on family engagement and the coming impact of immersive tech, like virtual and augmented reality.

Smartphones and tablets differ fundamentally from technology children used in the past and "may be game changers," said Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University Center on Media and Human Development director. Differences include the ubiquitous nature of such mobile tech, especially with tablets being used in schools, she said. For youth, "Technology is like the air they breathe." She said ease of use for touch-screen media is such that even babies can use it.

NIH-generated data would be helpful in training pediatricians and could lead to better childhood development guidelines on how to best use media, said Jenny Radesky, University of Michigan Medical School assistant professor-pediatrics and developmental behavior. She hopes NIH results could lead to practical solutions for families.