Bill Clinton: “I thank Chairman Enzi and Senator Kennedy for placing S. 1902, the Children and Media Research Advancement Act CAMRA, on…”

“I thank Chairman Enzi and Senator Kennedy for placing S. 1902, the Children and Media Research Advancement Act CAMRA, on the calendar today. I appreciate their commitment to the health and welfare of children. I also want to thank the co-sponsors of this bill, Senators Lieberman, Brownback, Santorum, Bayh, and Durbin for being such leaders on this issue, and my fellow Senators on the HELP Committee for their support for this legislation. In addition, I thank two groups, Common Sense Media and Children Now, for raising awareness of the effect media has on children's development. And finally, I express thanks to two researchers, Dr. Michael Rich of the Center for Media and Child Health at Harvard University Medical School, and Dr. Sandy Calvert of the Children's Digital Media Center at Georgetown University. Both Dr. Rich and Dr. Calvert have been great advocates for CAMRA. I thank them for sharing their expertise and support. Last year the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report showing dramatic changes in the way young people consume media, and confirming that children use electronic media an extraordinary amount. On average, children are spending 45 hours a week--more than a full-time job--with media. Young people today are not just watching television or playing video games, they are increasingly ``media multi-tasking,'' using more than one medium at a time and packing a growing volume of media content into each day.…”