NEW YORK -- The typical child between the ages of 2 and 18 consumes an average of 5.5 hours of media daily outside school, with television the clear favorite ahead of computers, video games, music and reading, a study shows.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent health-care philanthropy, examined media usage by 3,000 children across the country between November 1998 and last April.The study, made public Wednesday, breaks the 5.5-hour total down as follows: 2 hours, 46 minutes of television; 49 minutes of computer games and other computer uses; 48 minutes of recorded music; 44 minutes of reading; and 39 minutes of radio.

"Computers may be the wave of the future, but today TV predominates," said Vicky Rideout, who oversaw the study.

Nearly seven in 10 youngsters have a computer at home, and nearly half have Internet access, the study said.

Among kids 8 to 18, media usage swells to an average of 6 hours, 45 minutes. The study also identified "heavy" media users -- the 16 percent of kids between 8 and 18 who consume more than 101/2 hours a day.

The numbers should remind parents to monitor what their children are watching, Rideout said.

"For parents and guardians, as well as for society as a whole, it underscores the importance of understanding the message the media are conveying to kids," she said.

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