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MEDIA HABITS OF SCHOOL STUDENTS

2010-2011

A Report

Submitted by

Dr. Anubhuti Yadav

Central Institute of Educational Technology

National Council of Educational Research & Technology

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Methodology

3. Physical activities and students

4. Media at Home

5. Mobile Phones and Students

6. Print Media and Students

7. TV and Students

8. Cinema and Students

9. Video games and students

10. Music and Students

11. Computers and Students

12. Media Rules

13. Students’ take on Media content

14. Key Findings

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1. INTRODUCTION

Most of the students’ lives are abounded with media messages oozing from newspapers, magazines, TV,

Radio and from the new media. This continuous flow of messages in their life from various directions

leaves them perplexed and anguished many a times. Students who are inundated with such vast

information most of the time are unable to extract the information which are good for them and thrust

aside the one which are not relevant for them. This increased exposure to the media is associated with

the problems like increasing obesity, body dissatisfaction, aggressive behavior and many more amongst

students. If we look at the current media scenario and space allotted for children in it, we can easily say

that the children of today are watching the programmes meant for Adults. The reality shows, the soap

operas, the highly sensualized news stories are definitely not meant for children but they anyhow are

watching them with great interest.

Not consuming age appropriate media content creates problem not only for children but parents and

teachers are also often disillusioned with the peculiar situations they come across while interacting with

today’s generation which are often termed as ‘The New Kid’ by psychologists. Children these days are

often accused, by the psychiatrists, of growing up too fast. They are tagged as KGOY- Kids Grow Up

Young. Dr. Samir Pareekh, a leading psychiatrist, feel the reason for this phenomenon can be attributed

to the fact that the younger generation has more access to answers to their queries with different forms

of media .

The media industry in India is growing at a very rapid pace. According to FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and

Entertainment Industry Report 2011 “Hitting the High Notes” the Indian media and entertainment

industry grew from INR 587 billion in 2009 to INR 652 billion in 2010, registering an overall growth of 11

percent. The industry which includes TV, Radio Print, cinema and gaming has somehow in the race to

grow exponentially disregarded the educational and entertainment needs of a very vast population i.e.

children.

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KIDS’ GENRE OF TV PROGRAMMES

If the kids genre of channels are compared with other countries than the India has least number of kids

channels. According to KPMG analysis out of total only 3 percent of channels are kids’ channels ( 17).

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16% South Korea (38)

Singapore (11)

Malaysia (12)

Indonesia (9)

Hong Kong( 14)

UK (32)

USA (36)

India (17)

In country which has 550 TV channels, 77,600 newspaper types in multiple language, 595 movie

releases ( including hindi, regional and hollywood releases) and so many FM channels have we ever

wondered what space have we given in a such a wide canvas to our children and how children are

dealing with such a wide variety of information. Keeping this in view a survey was conducted to find out

what kind of media messages are students consuming and how. This activity was the first activity for the

students of media club which were established to initiate media discourse in schools. The idea was to

initiate discussion on their media habits. What sort of media messages they are consuming, how much

they are consuming, when they are consuming and where they are consuming were some of the

questions which media club students tried to find answers to.

OBJECTIVES

To track Media habits of school students

To find out the time spent by students on various media

To find out their favorite media products

To find out how and where they access media content

To identify various types of Media Rules formed in their family

To find out their expectations from media content

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2. METHODOLOGY

Four hundred students from Delhi were interviewed for the survey. The schools which participated in

the survey had established Media Clubs in their schools. As first activity of the club the students with the

help of their teachers conducted this survey. The questionnaire was given to the teachers when they

came for the orientation programme organized at CIET NCERT. The idea was to track the media habits of

students over a period of one week. Students of age group 8-18 participated in the survey. These

students were from both private and public schools.

PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS

AGE

FAMILY STRUCTURE

Students of age group 8-18 were considered

for the survey. For the students of eight years

it was suggested that the help of their parents

may be sought as they would not be able to

handle the questionnaire for seven days.

Though very little in number, getting

information from them was very important as

this is the stage when students start making

their choices regarding the media content.

Twenty five percent students were from the

age group 11 to 13. Maximum number of

students 71% was from the age group 14 to

18 as the choice for media club was offered

from the class VIII onwards. Most of the

media club students preferred to study the

their own peers. Most of the students

interviewed belonged to nuclear family. The

population for the study was the school

students from age group 8-18 hailing from

Delhi. Out of all schools the schools which run

media clubs were chosen for study. The

Schools participated in the survey were

Navodaya school Lodhi Road, Kendriya

Vidyalaya, Manav sthali, DPS Rohini, Navy

Children School, Happy School, St. Paul

School, Dr. Radhakrishnan School

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3. PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES & STUDENTS

There are many problems like increasing obesity amongst students, body dissatisfaction, violence

amongst students which are often discussed by the teachers and parents. Most of the time while

discussing the problem, the blame falls on the Media and its content. Media is being criticized a lot for

causing obesity, body dissatisfaction and increased violence amongst children. Whereas these problems

have roots in their life style; what they eat and how physically active they are. Hence students were

asked to record how much time they spent in exercising, playing sports, dancing running etc for seven

days.

Involvement in the physical

activities which involve running

exercising, playing outdoor is

almost consistent throughout

the week. The trend more or

large remains the same.

Twenty seven percent students

spend 30min-1hr in physical

activities followed by 25

percent who spend more than

three hours in physical

activities. 24% spend from 5-30

minutes in physical activities.

Five percent spend more than

three hours whereas eight

percent students said that they

were not involved in any of the

physical activities

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4. MEDIA FACILITIES AT HOME

Regarding availability of various media gadgets at home most of the students have TV at home ( 98%)

out of which 88% had cable connection. This is followed by computer 81 percent of students have

computer at home and seventy two percent had internet connection. Seventy nine percent have radio

while 81% and 69 percent students have DVD player and CD player respectively. Sixty three percent of

the students own video game player. The figures point out that the students are surrounded with

various gadgets and they have easy access to them as they are available to them at their own place.

MEDIA FACILITIES IN BED ROOM

Though most of the students have access to media at home, they were also asked about its presence in

their bedroom. Sixty two percent of the students have computer in their rooms while fifty three percent

students have TV in their bedroom and forty percent have radio. Other technologies though not in large

number as compared to TV, Radio and computer have entered into the private space of the students.

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MEDIA DEVICES OWNED BY STUDENTS

There used to be a time when most of the media devices were shared by the family. The trend is no

longer the same. Now each member has his or her own device. When asked about the ownership of

various devices, fifty percent of the students said that they had their personal MP3, forty nine percent

have mobile, thirty percent have Video Game player, twenty two percent have their personal laptop and

ten percent have their own Walkman whereas twenty two percent of students did not have any

personal media devices.

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5. MOBILE PHONES & STUDENTS

Almost all the students now a day have access to mobile. Forty nine percent of the students interviewed

have their own personal mobile phones whereas other do have access to them as their parents own

them. When asked the purpose for which the mobile phones are used sixty four percent of the students

said that they used mobile phone primarily to make call, forty five percent used it for messaging, twenty

five percent used it for playing games, twenty three percent use it for listening music, eleven percent for

clicking photographs and for taking video and nine percent also used it to access internet. Students were

asked to write three most important functions of cell 0phones on the basis of their usage.

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When asked how often they do activities like messaging, taking pictures, taking videos, listening music,

playing games, connecting to internet, visit social networking sites, watching Tv and watching video

Mobile for taking picture

Mobile for taking Video

Mobile for listening music

Mobile for playing games

Mobile for Internet

USE OF MOBILE PHONES

Students are using mobile phones for various purposes. The

frequency of using it for various reasons varies. Most often

students use the mobile phones for listening music and

playing games. Sometimes they use it to take pictures but

they rarely take videos. Most of the students say that

mobiles are never used for accessing internet, visit social

networking sites and to watch TV shows and videos.

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Mobile for social networking

Mobile for TV Shows

Mobile for Videos

MESSAGES PER DAY

When asked how many messages do they send previous day, most of them around thirty nine said that

did not sent any message followed by fifteen percent of respondents who said that they sent less than

ten messages in a day. There were students who sent messages ranging from 10-50 and also more than

50 but very few in numbers.

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RULES REGARDING MOBILE PHONES

When asked about the parental rules and regulations regarding mobiles, thirty eight percent of the

students said yes there are rules laid out by their parents regarding usage of mobiles whereas forty

seven percent said there are no rules followed in their family regarding the usage of mobiles.

When asked the types of rules which are followed following were their responses:

Control in time

Call only with permission

No use during study and examination

Not allowed to internet

Control on earphones

How strict are parents with control

When asked how often do your parents make sure you follow the rules they have about using a cell

phone thirty three percent of the students said most of the time and they are quite strict with the rules.

Whereas twenty two percent of them said that they do not bother much in making us follow those rules.

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STUDENTS AND MOBILE PHONES

1. Sixty four percent of the students said that they used mobile phone primarily to make calls, forty

five percent used it for messaging, twenty five percent used it for playing games, twenty three

for listening music, eleven percent for clicking photographs and for taking video and nine

percent also used it to access internet. Students were asked to write three most important

functions of cell phones on the basis of their usage

2. Students are using mobile phones for various purposes. The frequency of using it for various

reasons varies. Most often students use the mobile phones for listening music and playing

games. Sometimes they use it to take pictures but they rarely take videos. Most of the students

said that mobiles are never used for accessing internet, visit social networking sites and to

watch TV shows and videos.

3. When asked how many messages do they send previous day, most of them around thirty nine

said that did not sent any message followed by fifteen percent of respondents who said that

they sent less than ten messages in a day. There were students who sent messages ranging from

10-50 and also more than 50 but those students are very few in numbers.

4. When asked about the parental rules and regulations regarding mobiles, thirty eight percent of

the students said yes there are rules laid out by their parents regarding usage of mobiles

whereas forty seven percent said there are no rules followed in their family regarding the usage

of mobiles. When asked the types of rules which are formed, following were the responses

a. Control in time

b. Call only with permission

c. No use during study and examination

d. Not allowed to internet

e. Control on earphones

5. When asked how often do your parents make sure you follow the rules they have about using a

cell phone thirty three percent of the students said most of the time and they are quite strict

with the rules. Whereas twenty two percent of them said that they do not bother much in

making us follow those rules.

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6. PRINT MEDIA & STUDENTS

Print Media includes books, newspapers and magazines.

For the survey also the print media was divided into three

major categories for the students so that they could

record their reading habits for each category. They were

magazines, Newspapers and books. Time devoted to

reading books and Magazines is quite low amongst the

students. While majority of them i.e. 38.1 percent spend

5-30 minutes in reading magazine. Thirty percent of them

said that they do not read magazines. While eleven

percent read from 30 min-1hour, only two percent of

them read from 1 to 3 hours. The readers who read from

1-3 hours is quite less. This may be due to the time taken

by other media or may be after studies they are left with

very less interest and motivation to read. When asked

about their favorite magazine the Brunch, Hindustan

Times supplement came first, followed by Readers Digest

and India Today. Of the younger lot champak and twinkle

is their favorite. Students also like niche magazines like

Top gear, auto car and Digit.

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NEWSPAPERS AND STUDENTS

For any educated adult starting day

with a newspaper is a norm. Students

too are not far behind. Reading

newspaper is an important activity for

them and this includes flipping pages

to see visuals surfing it to read only

news headlines and serious reading.

Around seventy-five percent of

students do read newspaper.

Majority of the students (55.5) read

newspaper from 5-30 minutes every

day. Nineteen percent of them read

from 30 min to I hour. Just two

percent read it for longer duration i.e.

more than an hour. Eleven percent of

the students do not read newspaper

at all. Average newspaper reading

time for the students is from 5-30

minutes. When asked about their

favorite newspaper Time of India

came first followed by Hindustan

Times, Navabharat Times, Hindu, Mail

Today and Indian Express. Their

favorite newspaper supplements are

Delhi Times, HT city, Hello Delhi and

Education Times.

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BOOKS & STUDENTS

Books are our best friends

conforming to the quote sixty percent

of the students said that they do read

books. On an average forty five

percent of students spend 1-3 hours

in reading books. These books include

both their school textbooks as well as

other books. Sixteen percent of

students spend 4-6 hrs in reading

books. Four percent spend around 7-

9 hrs and just one percent reads 10-

12 hrs a day. Strangely a big number,

around twenty two percent said that

they did not read any book in the past

seven days. The reason for this could

be that this questionnaire was given

to them during their summer holidays

and they might be travelling or

enjoying and the reading might have

taken a backseat during that time.

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FAVORITE BOOKS

Students were asked to give the list of their favorite books . Following is the list of books which we came

across:

3 Mistakes Of My Life, 5 Points Someone, Champ, Agatha Christie, Harry Potter, The Diary Of A Wimpy

Kid, Akbar & Birbal, Tenali Raman, Short Stories Of Sai Baba, Alchemist, The Brurne Series, Alex Rider,

Beehive, A Pact With The Sun, Brida, Ps I Luv You, Chanda Mama, Lot Pot, Panchtantra, Atlas, Da Vinci

Code, Eclipse, Nancy Drew, Goose Bumps, Famous5, Double Twist, Matilda, Sherlock Homes, Eagle Of

the Ninth ,Lord of the Rings, Encyclopedia, Young Scientist, Pride & Prejudice, Princes Diaries, Nosy

Neighbour, Prisoner Of Zenda, Hounds Of Baskerville, Quanhoe, Nicholas Nickley, Count Of Monte

Cristo, Rage Of Angles, Kite Runner, Key Of Success, Ps I Luv U, Naughtiest Girl In School Robinhood,

Robinson Crusoe,80 Days Around the World, Rotten School, Alice In Wonderland, Tintin,Twilight Saga,

Change Of Heart, Third Twin, Super Freekonomics, Secret7,Penguin Ghost Stories, The Host, The

Princess Diaries, Eldest, Alan Rider,7 Secrets Of Sucessful Lives, Charlie & Chocolate Factory, Phantom Of

Manhattan, Runway Jury, Feluda Adventure, Garfield, Roald Dahl's Books, Darke & Jorsh, Hardy Boys,

Mills & Boons, Malbry Tower, Angels & Demons, Science Time, Wizard Of Oz, Harry Potter, Duke & I,

Broken Rhapsody, Discovery Of Truth, Echoes Of House, Jane Eyre, Kane and Able, The Wonder, The

Secret, Harry Potter, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Horrible Series, Animorphs, Sherlock Holmes, Jungle Book,

Kafka On The Shore, My Sister's Keeper ,Animal Farm, If Tomorrow Comes, Kite Runner, Vironica

Decides To Die, Little Women,Famous5,Hardy Boys, Lost Symbol, Harry Potter, Rid Pyramid, Sleepover,

Amar Chitra Katha, Chicken Soup, Narnia, RK Narayan, Premchand, Naughtiest Girl, Shadow Spell, Ninth

Chamber

While the books Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew by foreign authors were

quite popular amongst Indian authors the recent bestsellers by the Chetan Bhagat were quite popular

amongst students. In addition Champak, lotpot, Tintin, and the books by RK Narayan and Premchand

were students’ favourite.

When asked how often they get involved in other activities like using computer, watching TV, playing

video games, sending message or listening music twelve percent of them said they often do all these

activities while reading, whereas twenty four percent said sometime they do things simultaneously,

whereas twenty percent rarely get involved in other activities and thirty five percent said they never do

such activities while reading.

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STUDENTS & PRINT MEDIA

Time devoted to reading books and Magazines is quite low amongst the students. While

majority of them i.e. 38.1 percent spend 5-30 minutes in reading magazine. Thirty percent of

them said that they do not read magazines. While eleven percent read from 30 min-1hour, only

two percent of them read from 1 to 3 hours. The readers who read from 1-3 hours is quite less.

When asked about their favorite magazine the Brunch, Hindustan Times supplement came first,

followed by Readers Digest and India Today. Of the younger lot champak and twinkle is their

favorite. Students also like niche magazines like Top gear, auto car and Digit.

Seventy-five percent of students do read newspaper. Majority of the students (55.5) read

newspaper from 5-30 minutes every day. Nineteen percent of them read from 30 min to I hour.

Just two percent read it for longer duration i.e. more than an hour. Eleven percent of the

students do not read newspaper at all. Average newspaper reading time for the students is

from 5-30 minutes.

When asked about their favorite newspaper Time of India came first followed by Hindustan

Times, Navabharat Times, Hindu, Mail Today and Indian Express. Their favorite newspaper

supplements are Delhi Times, HT city, Hello Delhi and Education Times.

On an average forty five percent of students spend 1-3 hours in reading books. These books

include both their school textbooks as well as other books. Sixteen percent of students spend 4-

6 hrs in reading books. Four percent spend around 7-9 hrs and just one percent reads 10-12 hrs

a day. Strangely, a big number around twenty two percent said that they did not read any book

in the past seven days. The reason for this could be that this questionnaire was given to them

during their summer holidays and they might be travelling or enjoying and the reading might

have taken a backseat during that time.

While the books Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, hardy boys, Nancy Drew by foreign authors

were quite popular amongst Indian authors the recent bestsellers by the Chetan Bhagat were

quite popular amongst students. In addition Champak, lotpot, Tintin, and the books by RK

Narayan and Premchand were students’ favorite.

When asked how often they get involved in other activities like using computer, watching TV,

playing video games, sending message or listening music twelve percent of them saud they

often do all these activities while reading, whereas twenty-four percent said sometime they do

things simultaneously, whereas twenty percent rarely get involved in other activities and thirty

five percent said they never do such activities while reading

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7. TV AND STUDENTS

Television offer wide variety of content. Reality shows,

soap operas, news, songs game shows etc entertains

students a lot regardless of the fact whether they were

made for them or not. The Television industry in India

according to FICCI-KPMG report 20100 is growing

tremendously. The industry according to TAM (Television

Audience Measurement) data added 100 million viewers

in 2010 to reach 600 million viewers and crossed 550

channels from 460 in 2009.The average time spent

watching TV is 2.55 hrs per day. According to this study in

which the respondents are from Delhi and are school

going students, 34% of students spend 1 to 3 hours on TV,

29% spend30 min to 1 hr, 16% watch TV for 5 to 30

minutes. Around 20 percent watch more than 6 hours and

around five percent say they do not watch TV at all.

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FAVORITE TV PROGRAMMES

When asked about their three favorite programs, the list which came out was big but very clearly

indicates the genre of programmes students are interested in. Four genres of programme are their

favourite as most of the their favourite programmes fall in these genre. Programmes based on

Adventure ( this includes both reality shows and also the fiction), cartoon Shows, Reality Shows ( songs,

comedy, dance) soap operas . Looking at the list of their favourite programmes Man Vs Wild, a discovery

channel programme based on a story of an adventurer Bear Grylls who make it back to the civilization

from some of the most uninhabited parts of the world stand out as their favourite programme followed

by CID, a Sony TV programme which is based on crime and the CIDs role in solving those crimes. Other

than these two programmes which most of the students like, following are the other programmes based

on adventure which the students like:

ADVENTURE

Destroyed in seconds: A discovery channel programme in which the host Ron Pitts shares with the

audience most shocking destructions captured on the film.

Crime Patrol: A crime series on Sony which features crime and how police fight against these crimes.

Fear factor- Khatron Ke Khiladi: is a stunt/dare reality shows which is aired on colors.

MTV Roadies : This is the programmes in which participants were given bikes to travel on pre decided

route. Each episode consists of number of tasks or challenges which they have to perform.

Castle: is a police procedural TV series airs on Star World.

CARTOON SHOWS

Cartoon always work with children especially the younger lot. Students in the age category 8-10 liked

cartoon a lot. The cartoon shows which students watch are Ben 10 ( a story of ten year old Ben

Tennyson who finds a device out in the woods called ominitrix, which allows him to turn into ten

different aliens species. With this power he fights crime and evil aliens), Shin chan ( This is a story of a

boy Shin chan who is growing up in Tokyo and how his rude behavior and mannerism scandalize his

parents and teachers), Tom & Jerry( an animated series which revolves around the rivalry between a cat

and a mouse. Phineas and Ferb is a comedy musical series of a brother and sister and their continuous

arguments and Oggy and cockroaches is French animated comedy series, Ninja hatori

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REALITY SHOWS

Other than show based on adventure which were discussed in the adventure category, the reality show

based on songs, dance and comedy were their favorite. The chakdhoom dhoom a dance reality show on

colors, Just dance on Star plus and X factor a singing reality show on sony was liked by many of the

students.

SOAP OPERAS

Students like soap operas which are based on comedy. Tarak Mehta ka ulta chasma followed by how I

met your mother, friends & two and a half men on star world were their favourite programmes.Other

serials which they are watching are saural simar ka, is pyar ko kya nam doon, navya, chandragupta.

Other Media Engagements along with TV watching

Tv on when not in use

Watching while eating

When asked whether they get

involved with other activities while

watching TV, forty percent say they

do get engaged with other media

while watching TV. Sixteen percent

said most of the time they were

either using computer, radio, sending

messages etc while they were

watching TV whereas 26 percent do

these activities some of the time and

14 percent a little of time. When

asked if not in use, whether your TV

remains on majority of them said

never, eighteen percent said little

time, thirteen percent some of the

time and five percent said most of the

time. When asked whether they

watch TV while having their food 73%

said yes and twenty said NO.

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TV & STUDENTS

34% of students spend 1 to 3 hours on TV, 29% spend30 min to 1 hr, 16% watch TV for 5 to 30

minutes. Around 20 percent watch more than 6 hours and around five percent say they do not

watch TV at all.

When asked about their three favorite programs, the list which came out was big but very

clearly indicates the genre of programmes students are interested in. Four genres of

programme are their favourite as most of the their favourite programmes fall in those

categories.

o Adventure ( this includes both reality shows and also the fiction)

o Cartoon Shows,

o Reality Shows ( songs, comedy, dance)

o Soap operas

Adventure: Looking at the list of their favourite programmes Man Vs Wild, stood out as their

favourite programme followed by CID, a Sony TV programme .Other programmes based on

adventure which the students like are Destroyed in seconds, Crime Patrol, Fear factor- khatron

Ke Khiladi, MTV Roadies, Castle: is a police procedural TV series airs on Star World

Cartoons: Students in the age category 8-10 like cartoon a lot. The cartoon shows which

students watch are Ben 10 Shin chan Tom & Jerry Phineas and Ferb, Oggy and cockroaches and

Ninja hatori. Most of the cartoon shows liked by the students are produced outside India. Except

for the language ( As there are dubbed in Hindi and English) everything else dished out from

those serial are foreign to Indian children and Indian culture. Whether it is their dress, behavior,

body language or props in the set are quite different from the Indian context.

Reality Shows: Other than show based on adventures which were discussed in the adventure

category, the reality show based on songs, dance and comedy were their favorite. The :

chakdhoom dhoom a dance reality show on colors, Just dance on Star plus and X factor a

singing reality show on sony was liked by many of the students.

Soap Operas: Students like soap operas which are based on comedy. Tarak Mehta ka ulta

chasma followed by how I met your mother, friends & Two and a half men on star world were

their favourite programmes.

Other serials which they are watching are saural simar ka, is pyar ko kya nam doon, navya,

chandragopta.

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When asked whether they get involved with other activities while watching TV, forty percent say

they do get engaged with other media while watching TV. Sixteen percent said most of the time

they are either using computer, radio, sending messages etc while they are watching TV/ where

26 percent do these activities some of the time. When asked if not in use , whether their TV was

on majority of them said never, eighteen percent said little time, thirteen percent some of the

time and five percent said most of the time.

When asked whether they watch TV while having their food 73% said yes and twenty said NO.

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8. STUDENTS & CINEMA

Cinema in India is the most important source of entertainment for adults and for kids too. Indian cinema

has completed 100 glorious year of its existence last year. It has been entertaining and educating the

masses since then. The industry offers such wide variety of content that it satiates the entertainment

needs of almost all age groups. Though there is lot of criticism on lack of good cinema in kids genre but

still there are number of movies that takes care of the interests of younger generation. To get maximum

revenue, working on particular age group does not make sense hence most of the movie are made

keeping in view the wider age group.

Movies watched in a week

When asked how many movies they watch in a theatre in a week thirty five percent said one followed by

five percent of students who watch 2 movies in a week four percent watch 3 or movies. Nearly half of

them i.e. 49 % say they do not watch even a single movie in a week. When asked about their favourite

movies majority of them report 3 idiots as their favourite movie followed by Harry Potter. Unlike books

for which their inclination is towards foreign author for movies they prefer to watch film produced in

India. Though they have some favorites, when it comes to English movies but hindi movies outweighs

the foreign ones. English movies which appeared in their responses were Narnia, Titanic, Kungfu Panda,

Inception, God father, Gladiator, Transformer, 10 commandments, Never break down, Step 2 & 3, Caste

Away and Twilight Gaga. Amongst Hindi Films other than their favourite 3 idiots films they like tare

zameen par, Delhi Belly, Ready, Wanted, Jindagi na milegi Dobara, Jab we met and Golmal series.

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9. VIDEO GAMES & STUDENTS

Video games are the latest craze

amongst students. Though at present

not many students own it but the

trend is catching up fast. Average

time in playing video games is

relatively low if compared with other

media. While tracking their media

consumption habit vis a vis video

games thirty four percent say they do

not play video games. Strangely but

thirty four percent did not respond to

the question. Out of remaining thirty

two percent who play video games,

thirteen percent spend 5-30 min on

playing video games. Eight percent

spend 1-3 hours and eight percent

spend 30 minutes to one hour.

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Playing video games without its ownership

Engagemnet in other media activities while playing video games

For those who do not own Video games 18% of them still play the games by visiting game parlors and at

their friends place. Playing video games are quite engrossing hence out of those who play video games

44 % did not do any other activity while paying games. 36% do get involve with other activities while

playing video game.

FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES

Students do like playing video games. If we look at list of video games liked by them undoubtedly the

action genre is their favourite. The GTA is their favourite series of game in which players take on the role

of criminal who rises through the ranks of organized crime through the course of the game. The player is

given various missions by kingpins and major idols in the city underworld which must be completed to

progress through storyline. Assassinations and other crimes are regular feature of these games. Other

than this other games which are liked by the students are:

Burnout: Game based on care race

The Prince of Persia: Games set in Persia featuring a prince who is adept at acrobatic

Contra: Game in which player takes control of an armed commando who fight against all sort of

extraterrestrial monsters and other kinds of menaces.

Battlefield : Series of games usually focus on large, online multiplayer battles, with emphasis on piloting

a number of vehicles as well as team-based infantry combat. Playing in squads has also become a major

element of games in the series

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (abbreviated as TMNT and simplified as Ninja Turtles) are a team of

four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who battle petty criminals and alien invaders

God of War is an action-adventure video game

27

Road Rash: Game based on motorcycle-racing in which the player participates in violent illegal street

races

Sniper:- A sniper is a action game

Angry Birds: is a strategy puzzle video game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio

Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds,In the game, players use a slingshot to

launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs

on the playing field.

Pac-Man is an arcade game . In this player controls Pac-Man through a maze, eating pac-dots or pellets.

When all dots are eaten, Pac-Man is taken to the next stage

Need for Speed: Racing video game

Call of Duty shooting video game.

Counter-Strike: Action game including terrorist and antiterrorist.

Forza : is a racing video game.

Crysis 2: is a first-person shooter video game . Crysis 2 is a first-person shooter.

Transformers : Action based video game

Underworld: it’s a action game played by a team.

Halo is a shooting game

StarCraft : Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game.

DIRT- racing game .

Circus The game in which the player controls a seesaw and clown in order to destroy all of the targets in

the level.

Games other than action/revenge

Alpha Zones is a video game by Hudson Soft that was released for the TurboGrafx-16 .

Street cricket it’s a cricket game between two teams.

Bubbles Its just a game playing with soap’s water

Rock Band is a series of music video games .

STUDENTS AND VIDEO GAMES

28

Average time in playing video games is relatively low if compared with other media. While

tracking their media consumption habit vis a vis video games thirty four percent say they do not

play video games. Strangely but thirty four percent did not respond to the question. Out of

remaining thirty two percent who play video games, thirteen percent spend 5-30 min on playing

video games. Eight percent spend 1-3 hours and eight percent spend 30 minutes to one hour.

For those who do not own Video games 18% of them still play the games by visiting game

parlors and at their friends place. Playing video games are quite engrossing hence out of those

who play video games 44 % did not do any other activity while paying games. 36% do get

involve with other activities while playing video game.

Action based Video Games are the most preferred. The GTA is their favourite series of game in

which players take on the role of criminal who rises through the ranks of organized crime

through the course of the game. Other than this other games which are liked by the students

are: Burnout, The Prince of Persia, Contra, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, God of ,Road

Rash, Sniper, Angry Birds, Pac-Man , Need for Speed, Call of Duty , Counter-Strike, Forza, Crysis

Transformers, Underworld, Halo, DIRT,Circus. Thse games are based on action and thrill and

revolves around fighting, revenge, weapons and racing.

There were very few games other than action or racing games which are reported by students as

their favourite game. These include Sudoku, Street cricket, Bubbles, Rock Band. These are mind

games or the games based on game or music.

29

10. MUSIC IN THE LIVES OF STUDENTS

Thirty six percent students report

they spend 5-30 minutes in listening

music. Twenty three percent spend

30 min to I hour , twelve percent

spend 1 to 3 hrs while about five

percent spend more than 3 hrs.

Around 11 % do not listen to the

music at all.

30

Music through Radio

Music through CD Player

Music through Cell Phone

Music through I Pod/MP3

Music with Computer

There are number of devices available

to listen to the music. When asked

about various devices, sixty percent

say they listen music through radio,

15 % said they listen to music CD

player, Students also use their

cellphones to listen to music when

asked 58% said yes they use cell

phones to listen to music. Listening

music through I pod / MP3 is also

catching up as 44 percent said they

do use I pod for listening to music.

Half of the students say they do not

listen to music while working with

other medium but 48 percent said

they do listen to music when they are

with other medium.

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11. Computer & Students

Out of all, 63% students use

computer wheras 30 percent do not

use it at all. Regarding the time spent

on computer 25% of students who

use computers use it for 30 min – I hr

22% use it for 5-30 minutes, 11% use

it for 1-3 hrs, 6 % use it more than 3

hrs whereas twenty two percent do

not use computer at all. Forty nine

percent of students have internet at

home whereas 34% do not have

internet facility at home. Regarding

the internet facility available in school

92 % said they do not have access to

internet at school and only one

percent said they do have internet

facility at school.The students who do

not have internet access at home and

also at school were asked whether

they access internet at any other

place than home and school, 84

percent say no while 9 percent said

yes they use internet at cyber café or

at friends place.

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Internet at Home Internet at School

Internet from other Internet nowhere

PURPOSE OF USING COMPUTER

Students use computers for various purposes which includes doing homework, playing games,

Messaging, emailing, reading newpaper and magazines online, doing graphics which includes photo

editing, social networking , visiting various websites to watch or upload video. Out of all these activities

according to the usage they spend most of the time on doing school work, followed by social networking

and playing games.

ACTIVITY WITH COMPUTE USE

When asked about their engagement

with other media while working on

computer thirty 35 % say they do not

get engaged with other media while

the remaining 57 % do get involved

with other medium .

33

Media & Homework

Activities on Internet

Out of those who access internet 68% of them downloaded music from internet 58% watched video on

you tube or Google tube, 56% visited social networking site, 51% created their profile on social

networking site, 52 percent used it for chatting, 55% got information from internet on health issue that

affect them or their relative, 41% watched video on the internet from a computer, 40 % read a blog,

20% posted a video to a site like youtube, 14 percent of them tried their hand in writing a blog, 17. 5

listened to radio through internet. The internet is mainly used by the students to download music

followed by watching video, visiting social networking site, chatting, getting information on health issue.

Students were asked while doing their

homework how often do they use computer,

watch TV, read, play games text message or

listen to music 34% said they never use the

above mentioned medium while doing their

homework. 32 % say that they do but very little

time 10 % use it sometime but 14% get involved

with various media most of the time

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12. MEDIA RULES

When asked about the rules at home related to media which includes time spent with

particular medium, types of programme to be watched, specific time for media consumption

etc more than fifty percent that is 53 % say no media rules are formed by their parents .

Despite the fact that there is lot of concern over the kind of media consumption 53% parents

do not have any rules regarding that at their place whereas 42 % said that they follow a kind of

rule at their home which mainly includes restriction on the time spent on TV and computer and

on certain type of programmes. Out of those 42 % who do have media rules at home 21

percent said that though the rules exist but they are not followed at all 13 % follow very little ,

25 % follow those rules some of the time only 12 % households follow the media rules strictly.

Media Rules at home

Following Media Rules

35

13. STUDENTS & THEIR TAKE ON MEDIA CONTENT

When asked whether they are satisfied with the kind of content that appears in Newspaper, Magazines,

Radio and Television , majority of them seems to be satisfied with the content 48 percent said they are

satisfied, 38 percent were somewhat satisfied as they have reservations regarding some of the

programmes, very few 6 percent said that they are not at all satisfied with the content.

They were also asked what they would like to see in Newspapers, Magazines, TV, Radio and Video

games following were their responses:

Newspaper

When asked what kind of content they would like to see in newspapers Students emphasized that there

should be more variety of information. They want to see more of sports news, latest technology and the

issues concerning young people like new games for children, academic news, news related to health

comic strips and dedicated section for students. Students also pointed out that that there should be less

coverage of negative news, murder and crime and suggest the newspaper should carry more of a

positive stories.

Magazines

In magazines students want to see more of technology related magazine which should cover stories like

new gadgets and their review. They also want to see specialized magazines on education which should

have information related to career, new books, general knowledge etc. They pointed out that there

should be less advertisement and more articles in the magazines. They wanted to have mire information

on health and lifestyle.

Television

Students want to watch programmes based on general knowledge. They said they would like to watch

more programmes like KBC and man vs wild. They also want to watch more quiz shows. Some even

suggested a new channel dedicated to general awareness. They also want to have more coverage of

36

educational issues and even suggested the programmes based on annual functions should also be there

on TV. They also want to atch programmes based on horror and stunts. Comedy is the genre which is

like by almost all the students and they would like to have more comedy shows. They also suggested

that the programmes should be of short duration and carry less advertisements.

Radio

On Radio they would like to listen more of a song and less commercials. In songs they want to listen to

the latest movie songs and latest albums.

Video games

Though most of the video games are about action and thrill, students want more of such games which

are based on action, adventure, race. Besidesa these they also want to have video games based on

mathematics and other subjects which ould help them to increase their knowledge while playing.

37

KEY FINDINGS

• Contrary to the belief that the students spend less time in physical activities now a days it was

through the study discovered that except eight percent of the students rest all get involved in physical

activities which involve running exercising, playing outdoor etc. The time spent in outdoor activities

more or large remains the same throughout the week with twenty seven percent students spending

30min-1hr followed by 25 percent who spend more than three hours in physical activities. Twenty four

percent spend from 5-30 minutes in physical activities. Five percent spend more than three hours.

• Most of the students students have TV at home ( 98%) out of which 88% had cable connection.

This is followed by computer as 81 percent of students have computer at home and seventy two percent

had internet connection. Seventy nine percent have radio while 81% and 69 percent students have DVD

player and CD player respectively. Sixty three percent of the students own video game player.

• Sixty two percent of the students have computer in their rooms while fifty three percent

students have TV in their bedroom and forty percent have radio. Other technologies though not in large

number as compared to TV, Radio and computer have also entered into the private space of the

students.

• Fifty percent of the students have their personal MP3, forty nine percent have mobile, thirty

percent have Video Game player, twenty two percent have their personal laptop and ten percent have

their own Walkman whereas twenty two percent of students do not have any personal media devices.

• Sixty four percent of the students used mobile phone primarily to make calls, forty five percent

used it for messaging, twenty five percent used it for playing games, twenty three for listening music,

eleven percent for clicking photographs and for taking video and nine percent also used it to access

internet.

• Students are using mobile phones for various purposes. The frequency of using it for various

reasons varies. Most often students use the mobile phones for listening music and playing games.

Sometimes they use it to take pictures but they rarely take videos. Most of the students said that

mobiles are never used for accessing internet, visit social networking sites and to watch TV shows and

videos.

• Thirty nine percent did not sent any message followed by fifteen percent of respondents who

said that they sent less than ten messages in a day. There were students who sent messages ranging

from 10-50 and also more than 50 but those students are very few in numbers.

38

• According to thirty eight percent of the students there are rules in place regarding usage of

mobiles whereas forty seven percent said there are no rules followed in their family regarding the usage

of mobiles. The rules include Control in time, Call only with permission, No use during study and

examination, Not allowed to access internet, Control on earphones. Though the rules were in place in

many households but only thirty three percent of thr huseholds strictly follow the rules.

• Time devoted to reading books and Magazines is quite low amongst the students. While

majority of them i.e. 38.1 percent spend 5-30 minutes in reading magazine. Thirty percent of them said

that they do not read magazines. While eleven percent read from 30 min-1hour, only two percent of

them read from 1 to 3 hours. The readers who read from 1-3 hours is quite less.

• Brunch, Hindustan Times supplement was their favourite magazine, followed by Readers Digest

and India Today. Of the younger lot champak and twinkle is their favorite. Students also like niche

magazines like Top gear, auto car and Digit.

• Seventy-five percent of students read newspaper. Majority of the students (55.5) read

newspaper from 5-30 minutes every day. Nineteen percent of them read from 30 min to I hour. Just two

percent read it for longer duration i.e. more than an hour. Eleven percent of the students do not read

newspaper at all. Average newspaper reading time for the students is from 5-30 minutes.

• Time of India is their favorite newspaper came followed by Hindustan Times, Navabharat Times,

Hindu, Mail Today and Indian Express. Their favorite newspaper supplements are Delhi Times, HT city,

Hello Delhi and Education Times.

• On an average forty five percent of students spend 1-3 hours in reading books. These books

include both their school textbooks as well as other books. Sixteen percent of students spend 4-6 hrs in

reading books. Four percent spend around 7-9 hrs and just one percent reads 10-12 hrs a day. Strangely,

a big number around twenty two percent said that they did not read any book in the past seven days.

• While the books Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, hardy boys, Nancy Drew by foreign authors

were quite popular amongst Indian authors the recent bestsellers by the Chetan Bhagat were quite

popular amongst students. In addition Champak, lotpot, Tintin, and the books by RK Narayan and

Premchand were students’ favorite.

• 34% of students spend 1 to 3 hours on TV, 29% spend30 min to 1 hr, 16% watch TV for 5 to 30

minutes. Around 20 percent watch more than 6 hours and around five percent do not watch TV at all.

• Students like the programmes which fall in the four major categories:Adventure ( this includes

both reality shows and also the fiction), Cartoon Shows, Reality Shows ( songs, comedy, dance) Soap

operas. Man Vs Wild, stood out as their favourite programme followed by CID, a Sony TV programme .

Students in the age category 8-10 like cartoon a lot. The cartoon shows which students watch are Ben 10

Shin chan Tom & Jerry Phineas and Ferb, Oggy and cockroaches and Students like soap operas which

39

are based on comedy. Tarak Mehta ka ulta chasma followed by how I met your mother, friends & Two

and a half men on star world were their favourite programmes.

• 73% students watch TV while having their food.

• 49 % say they do not watch even a single movie in a week thirty five percent atched I movie and

five percent of students watch two mivies in a week . 3 idiots was their favourite movie followed by

Harry Potter. Unlike books for which their inclination is towards foreign author for movies they prefer to

watch film produced in India. Though they have some favorites, when it comes to English movies but

hindi movies outweighs the foreign ones.

• Average time in playing video games is relatively low if compared with other media. While

tracking their media consumption habit vis a vis video games thirty four percent say they do not play

video games. Strangely but thirty four percent did not respond to the question. Out of remaining thirty

two percent who play video games, thirteen percent spend 5-30 min on playing video games. Eight

percent spend 1-3 hours and eight percent spend 30 minutes to one hour.

• For those who do not own Video games 18% of them still play the games by visiting game

parlors and at their friends place. Playing video games are quite engrossing hence out of those who play

video games 44 % did not do any other activity while paying games. 36% do get involve with other

activities while playing video game.

• Action based Video Games are the most preferred. The GTA is their favourite series of game

which is based on crime. Other than this other games which are liked by the students are: Burnout, The

Prince of Persia, Contra, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, God of ,Road Rash, Sniper, Angry Birds, Pac-

Man , Need for Speed, Call of Duty , Counter-Strike, Forza, Crysis Transformers, Underworld, Halo,

DIRT,Circus. These games are based on action and thrill and revolves around fighting, revenge, weapons

and racing.

• Thirty six percent students report they spend 5-30 minutes in listening music. Twenty three

percent spend 30 min to I hour , twelve percent spend 1 to 3 hrs while about five percent spend more

than 3 hrs. Around 11 % do not listen to the music at all. There are number of devices available to listen

to the music. When asked about various devices, sixty percent say they listen music through radio, 15 %

said they listen to music CD player, Students also use their cellphones to listen to music when asked 58%

said yes they use cell phones to listen to music. Listening music through I pod / MP3 is also catching up

as 44 percent said they do use I pod for listening to music. Half of the students say they do not listen to

music while working with other medium but 48 percent said they do listen to music when they are with

other medium.

• Out of all, 63% students use computer whereas 30 % do not use it at all. Regarding the time

spent on computer 25% of students who use computers use it for 30 min – I hr 22% use it for 5-30

minutes, 11% use it for 1-3 hrs, 6 % use it more than 3 hrs whereas twenty two percent do not use

computer at all.

40

• Forty nine percent of students have internet at home whereas 34% do not have internet facility

at home. Regarding the internet facility available in school 92 % said they do not have access to internet

at school and only one percent said they do have internet facility at school.The students who do not

have internet access at home and also at school were asked whether they access internet at any other

place than home and school, 84 percent say no while 9 percent said yes they use internet at cyber café

or at friends place.

• Students use computers for various purposes which includes doing homework, playing games,

Messaging, emailing, reading newspaper and magazines online, doing graphics which includes photo

editing, social networking , visiting various websites to watch or upload video. Out of all these activities

according to the usage they spend most of the time on doing school work, followed by social networking

and playing games.

• When asked about their engagement with other media while working on computer thirty 35 %

say they do not get engaged with other media while the remaining 57 % do get involved with other

medium

• Out of those who access internet 68% of them downloaded music from internet 58% watched

video on you tube or Google tube, 56% visited social networking site, 51% created their profile on social

networking site, 52 percent used it for chatting, 55% got information from internet on health issue that

affect them or their relative, 41% watched video on the internet from a computer, 40 % read a blog,

20% posted a video to a site like youtube, 14 percent of them tried their hand in writing a blog, 17. 5

listened to radio through internet. The internet is mainly used by the students to download music

followed by watching video, visiting social networking site, chatting, getting information on health issue.

• Despite the fact that there is lot of concern over the kind of media consumption 53% parents do

not have any media rules whereas 42 % follow a kind of rule at their home which mainly includes

restriction on the time spent on TV and computer and on certain type of programmes. Out of those 42

% who do have media rules at home 21 percent said that though the rules exist but they are not

followed at all 13 % follow very little , 25 % follow those rules some of the time only 12 % households

follow the media rules strictly.

• Majority of them seems to be satisfied with the content in Newspaper, Magazines, Radio and

Television with 48 percent being satisfied, 38 percent being somewhat satisfied as they have some

reservations regarding some of the programmes. Only six percent of students are not at all satisfied with

the content.

• When asked what kind of content they would like to see in newspapers students emphasized

that there should be more variety of information. They want to see more of sports news, information on

41

latest technology and the issues concerning young people like new games for children, academic news,

news related to health, comic strips and dedicated section for students. Students also pointed out that

that there should be less coverage of negative news, murder and crime and suggest the newspaper

should carry more of a positive story.

• In magazines students want to see more of technology related magazine which should cover

stories like new gadgets and their review. They also want to see specialized magazines on education

which should have information related to career, new books, general knowledge etc. They pointed out

that there should be less advertisement and more articles in the magazines. They wanted to have more

information on health and lifestyle.

• Students want to watch programmes based on general knowledge. They said they would like to

watch more programmes like KBC and Man vs Wild. They also want to watch more quiz shows. Some

even suggested a new channel dedicated to general awareness. They also want to have more coverage

of educational issues and even suggested the programmes based on annual functions should also be

there on TV. They also want to watch programmes based on horror and stunts. Comedy is the genre

which is like by almost all the students and they would like to have more comedy shows. They also

suggested that the programmes should be of short duration and carry fewer advertisements.

• On Radio they would like to listen more of a song and less commercials. In songs they want to

listen to the latest movie songs and latest albums.

• Though most of the video games are about action and thrill, students want more of such games

which are based on action, adventure, race. Besides these they also want to have video games based on

mathematics and other subjects which could help them to increase their knowledge while playing.

42