When it comes to plugged in household space, kids' rooms rock. A new study says many kids' rooms are becoming media centers.

Here's what's going on behind those closed doors.

Consumer researcher, Menlo Park, CA-based Knowledge Networks/SRI says 61 percent of kids aged 8 to 17 have a TV in their bedroom, 35 percent have a video game system, 17 percent have their own personal computer, 14 percent have a DVD player and 9 percent have Net access.

Knowledge Networks interviewed 245 kids through which it also found that when they were restricted to using one medium, the Internet was just as popular as the television as the first choice.

Television, the radio and prerecorded music, however, were used more often than the Internet, according to the kids surveyed.

"How Children Use Media Technology," is the latest in a series of semi-annual nationwide surveys of media technology ownership with each survey reporting on specific products and services.

"How Kids Use Media Technology," found that kids use their Internet connection for games, research and homework, but communication (email, instant messaging and chat rooms) is "sweet" and the most important Net use.

"Kids with own-room media access represent an important subgroup of media users," said David Tice, Knowledge Networks vice president

"Their behavior is more self-directed, in terms of linking media with each other and with other activities, and they have less parental supervision."

The study found that about three percent of the kids interviewed reported they often visited a related Web site while watching a TV program. More than 25 percent of them said they are also driven to Web site visits by TV ads at least once a week, almost three times as many as by radio ads.

Also, 75 percent of those interviewed reported multitasking while watching TV and 50 percent said they have parental rules for their TV use, compared to 61 percent of kids who don't have their own sets.

Among the few kids who have Net access in their room, 57 percent say all of their Internet use takes place in their rooms and 61 percent report having parental rules restricting their Web use, compared to 69 percent of Internet-using kids who aren't plugged into the Net in their bedrooms.

The growing array of electronic devices stuffed into bedrooms may be a distraction.

Seven in ten TV-viewing kids report that they do other things while watching television -- up from 64 percent in 2001. Girls are heavier multi-taskers than boys.

Simultaneous TV-Web use is rare. Instead kids have their TV while eating (20 percent) and while doing their homework (18 percent).

Add still more devices to your kids' Christmas list.

When asked what new device they want, children were more likely to mention video game systems or cell phones than Web connections.

Published: October 15, 2003

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the Web site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for "Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home" (Nolo $24.99) and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.