As a result of analyzing mothers' media awareness, as a general rule affinity for TV programs and the Internet was strong and in some cases addiction to TV programs was found. Comparing different generations, the level of affinity was high in the order of under 20s > 30s > over 40s in all types of media.

In Section 4, mothers' awareness related to media regarding 4 types of media (TV programs/Internet/emails/games) will be discussed from two perspectives, affinity and addiction.

Affinity for TV programs and the Internet, addiction to TV programs

Figure 3-4-1 shows the correspondent rate of "true" and "somewhat true" sorted by different types of media from the result of asking mothers to indicate their relationship to media on a 4-point rating scale (true/somewhat true/not so true/not true at all).

Regarding TV programs, mothers who answered "I like watching TV programs" by selecting "true" and "somewhat true" were 78.5% indicating a strong degree of affinity for TV programs. Mothers who indicate some degree of addiction to them by "leaving the TV switched on while they are at home" are the majority (52.0%). This result may have been effected by having grown up in an environment where they were "allowed to watch TV programs freely in childhood" (43.4%) which is related to both affinity and addiction.

Regarding the Internet, mothers who answered "I like getting information from the Internet" were 75.3%, indicating a strong degree of affinity. On the other hand, the addiction rate of those who "get absorbed in the Internet, to the extent of losing track of time" was 28.7%.

Regarding "emails," mothers who "check emails constantly" were limited to 16.1%, indicating a minor degree of addiction.

Regarding "games," mothers who "like playing with gaming apps and software" marked 25.7% and those who "get absorbed in gaming apps and software, to the extent of losing track of time" were 8.8%. The rate of affinity is higher than that of addiction but both of them indicate lower tendencies compared to TV programs and the Internet.

Figure 3-4-1 Mothers' affinity for and addiction to media

Under 20s have affinity for and addiction to old and new media

Figure 3-4-2 to Figure 3-4-5 compare different generations for each type of media regarding mothers' affinity for and addiction to media indicated in Figure 3-4-1.

Figure 3-4-2 has put in order the affinity for and addiction to TV programs. The under 20s group shows the strongest affinity for TV programs with 82.0% (30s 79.7% / over 40s 73.2%). It was a similar result with addiction (under 20s 58.5% > 30s 53.7% > over 40s). Under 20s are "the early neo-digital natives" of Generation 86 who grew up with the Internet and mobile phones but TV seems to be an established media to watch while doing something else. As a backdrop, it may also be influenced by the fact that they could watch TV whenever they wanted to when they were growing up. (under 20s 58.8%>30s 42.8%>over 40s 39.0%).

Figure 3-4-2 Mothers' affinity for and addiction to TV programs (by age groups)

On the other hand, in "Changes in the View of Media and 'Customised Viewing' 'Connected Viewing'" (Housoukenkyu to chousa [The NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research], July issue, 2013) compiled from NHK's "60 years' research of TV programs," the majority of 20s see the benefits of TV in "news coverage" and the majority of 30s and 40s see them in "news coverage" and creating a "common subject". In this survey, affinity for TV programs was strong in all generations but there might be differences among generations in benefits deeply related to affinity.

Figure 3-4-3 summarizes the affinity for and addiction to the Internet. The degree of affinity is strong in all generations (under 20s 79.9% > 30s 76.1% > over 40s 71.8%). Addiction is not strong on the whole but 30s, who fall under Generation 76, which grew up with computers, have a slightly higher rate than other generations (30s 30.7% > over 40s 26.8% > under 20s 25.5%). In NHK's "60 years' research of TV programs" mentioned earlier, the majority of 20s see the benefits of the Internet as a resource for "life and hobby information" and "connection to society", the majority of 30s see them as a resource for "life and hobby information". It is apparent from Section 3 (Figure 3-3-1) of this survey that all generations gather information from information websites. Therefore, the recognition as a source of information related to life seems to affect the degree of affinity for the Internet.

Figure 3-4-3 Mothers' affinity for and addiction to the Internet (by age groups)

Figure 3-4-4 shows the result for addiction to email communication. The proportion of those addicted is low in total; under 20s 20.1% > 30s 16.0% > over 40s 15.4%. Presumably, affinity for and addiction not only to e-mail but also to SNS should be validated, since the results from Section 3 (Figure 3-3-4) indicated the tendency of routine visits to websites and SNS.

Figure 3-4-4 Mothers' addiction to email (by age groups)

Figure 3-4-5 summarizes the affinity for and addiction to games. Affinity is stronger in under-20s with 36.9% compared to 30s (25.8%) and over 40s (16.5%). The degree of addiction is low in all generations but the under 20s's rate is twice the rate of over 40s' (under 20s 12.6% > 30s 9.3% > over 40s 6.3%). 20s belong to Generation 86, who were born in an age when various games already existed, so it can be assumed that they have a certain degree of affinity for and addiction to games.

Figure 3-4-5 Mothers' affinity for and addiction to games (by age groups)