My 10 Year Old's DVR Habits

Joe Wilcox | August 23, 2004, 10:40 AM

Since I'm blogging about TV shows, my 10 year old gets time shifting TV watching better than most adults I know, which is pretty good commentary on youth growing up with emerging technologies.

She got the DVR bug two years ago, when Microsoft released Windows XP Media Center Edition. HP sent a Media Center PC, which I looked at doubtfully, because, at the time, I didn't buy into Microsoft's 10-foot concept. But, after a Mac buddy went gaga over the Media Center user interface, I put my daughter on that PC. We recorded shows she missed during school, which she watched after homework.

Within a week, my then eight year old's TV habits changed, as she began time shifting programs to her schedule. That PC is gone, victim to an unfortunate accident (water was involved; ugh), but the Comcast cable box has DVR capabilities.

Just this weekend, my daughter had a sleepover friend but didn't want to break to watch "Winx Magix." So she recorded the show and watched later.

In the evening, if my sometimes cranky 10 year old wants something and I'm watching live TV, she'll command, "Dad, why don't you just pause it." She fully understands the value of pausing or rewinding live TV, something she likes to do when cute critters come on "Animal Planet."

The point: I increasingly see how my daughter, who is growing up with technologies that were the purview of scifi writers when I was a kid, interacts differently than do many adults. Because JupiterResearch understands this difference, we conduct teen surveys and publish reports on the youth market. Four recent noteworthy reports:

* Teen Audience Benchmark 2004: Improving Odds of Getting a Good Game More Important Than Getting a Good Deal"

* "Online Teen Marketing Segmentation: Reaching Teen Influencers"

* "Demographic Profile: Teens Online"

* "Consumer Survey Report: Teen Music, 2003"

Microsoft's NetGen group is a good example of a company taking the youth market seriously.