VJR Consulting is an independent consulting firm specializing in research, policy, and strategic communications work for non-profits. Special areas of focus include conducting high-quality research on youth and media, and developing and evaluating media campaigns on social issues. We design and direct public opinion and media research, write reports, develop policy positions, conduct strategic planning, convene high-level events, and plan media campaigns. We operate at the intersection of issues, research, and communications. Read More >
Research Brief on Children, Teens, and Reading, May, 2014.
This research brief for Common Sense Media documents a dramatic drop in reading among teens in recent years, coupled with a persistent achievement gap in reading between White and minority youth. Download a copy of the report here, read Frank Bruni’s impassioned column in the New York Times, listen to NPR’s story, or read other coverage from The Washington Post, TIME, or Reuters.
Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America, January 2014.
Ever since the dawn of electronic media, educators and children’s advocates have been working to maximize its use as a tool for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. This study for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center explores just what portion of children’s screen media consumption is educational, and how parents view the benefits of educational media. Download a copy of the report, watch a video of Vicky discussing the findings, view the edWeb webinar in which Vicky and the Cooney Center’s Michael Levine present findings from the report, or read coverage of the study in the New York Times, USA Today, or the Washington Post.
Advertising to Children and Teens: A Common Sense Media Research Brief, Spring, 2014.
The media environment for children and teens has changed dramatically in recent years, and so, too, has the advertising environment – perhaps even more so. Advertising to youth now includes product placement, immersive websites, advergaming, viral marketing, mobile ads, social-media marketing, and precise behavioral and geographic targeting. The purpose of this report is to inventory the new techniques being used, and to review what we do and don’t know about the extent of children’s exposure to advertising through media. Download a copy of the report, or read coverage in US News & World Report or The Christian Science Monitor.
Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America for Common Sense Media, Fall, 2013.
Even a casual observer of children and families today knows big changes are afoot when it comes to children and new media technologies. This report, based on the results of a large-scale, nationally representative survey, documents for the first time exactly how big those changes are. Read the report, or the story that ran in the Washington Post or the New York Times.
Toddlers and Tablets: Way of the Future?
June 5, 2013, ABC News Nightline
A survey (Parenting in the Age of Digital Technology) by Northwestern's School of Communication of 2,300 parents of children aged to 8-years-old found that 37 percent of parents still report they are likely to use their tablet or smartphone to entertain their kids, despite the fact that 54 percent worry their children's use of mobile devices had a negative impact on their physical activity. Read More >
Most Parents Show Little Worry About Media Use, Survey Says
June 4, 2013. New York Times
Do parents worry about the growing amount of time their children spend with media? One new study suggests that most parents are largely unconcerned. And perhaps no wonder: Parents who show little concern about their children’s use of technology themselves spend big chunks of their leisure time with media. The study’s co-author, Vicky Rideout, an independent researcher who over the last decade has done pioneering research into patterns of technology use, said she was surprised to find that 59 percent of the 2,300 parents surveyed were not worried... Read Article >
Children, Teens and Entertainment Media: The View from the Classroom
October, 2012. Read the New York Times story on the national survey of teachers we directed for Common Sense Media, about how teachers view the impact of entertainment media on students’ academic skills and social development. Download the full report or visit Common Sense Media’s research library for more of their work. 
Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives
June 26, 2012: Read the new study we directed and wrote for Common Sense Media, about how teens think social media impacts their social and emotional well-being.
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