ICT and Gender: Parental Mediation Strategies

Revista Comunicação e Sociedade, 2020

The objective of this article is to explore the gendered characteristics of digital parenting and parental mediation through a qualitative study developed with families and children in Argentina. Diverse typologies have recently been elaborated to better understand parental mediation of digital screens. Quantitative studies have correlated different styles of parental mediation with sociodemographic variables and have also assessed their effectiveness in preventing several online risks. In this paper we use qualitative data from a research developed using the technique of technobiographies to construct an in-depth approach to children's practices and representations with multiple voices involved (parents, teachers, school authorities). As we show, different types of parental mediation are associated to mothers or fathers, following more broader gender ideologies and stereotypes. With insights from different families, we built research questions that state that there is a gendered division of digital parenting.

Intersections

This study explores parental mediation – its patterns, purpose and intention, the intentions behind it, and related social inequalities – from the perspective of the ideal of intensive parenting. Parental mediation in the form of restricting or monitoring teenagers’ technology use might mitigate the harm of the intensive or risky online behaviour. Moreover, active mediation strategies might improve the teenagers’ digital literacy by obtaining specific skills that foster appropriate online behaviour. Therefore, the paper argues that parental mediation has become a highly relevant aspect of contemporary parenting practices. The paper is based on thematic analyses of semi-structured interviews on children’s screen time and parental mediation strategies. The interviews were carried out with 29 parents of adolescents in Hungary in 2019. The findings show that restriction and active mediation primarily aimed at protecting children from risks, as a resource-intensive practice, form part of...

Media, Culture & Society, 2022

The different strategies explored by parents managing their children's digital practices, the associated challenges, and the conditions for a successful outcome are central in the literature on digital mediation within families. However, few studies consider the family context in its entirety, which is essential if we wish to capture the meanings, perceptions, and negotiations that are played out in the daily family routine. Based on an ethnographic survey on the place of screens in Swiss families' socialization processes, the paper shows, first, how paternal use undermines digital mediation within the family and, second, that this mediation is ultimately a maternal concern and responsibility. By interviewing all family members (including children) on their assessment of screen use by all family members (including parents), our research design provides access to the backstage of parental digital mediation. Our data shows that women confront fears and guilt in the face of social norms that a 'good' mother should regulate screens 'well' within her household. We conclude that parental digital mediation is embedded in a gendered social and relational context, where fathers and mothers do not adopt the same roles, the same duties, nor the same mental burden.

Issues in Educational Research, 2018

Children have increasing access, and at younger ages, to ICT. This results from state policy measures, or from families having progressively provided ICT access to their children, or both of these influences. As a critical approach to the impact of technology in the construction of social change, this paper seeks to understand how children's relationships are built with ICT, and how family background and mediation affects this relationship, within the context of socialisation and a certain position in social space. From two case studies we present results of a multivariate analysis as well as qualitative data. The data suggest that the democratisation of access to ICT, amplified by the wide distribution of a laptop computer to children in elementary schools, has resulted in distinct profiles of use by children. These profiles appear linked to different (academic and digital) family resources and diverse parental involvement concerning these uses (regulation and support).

As children access to the internet at ever younger ages, questions arise as to whether the use of touchscreens at home contributes to literacy and digital skills, and whether and how parents scaffold children's learning. To date, research on parental mediation has shown that parental expectations of the role of ICTs in their children's future, discourses of the opportunities and risks of the internet, and the everyday practices of media engagement all shape the ways in which children are socialised into using digital media at home. These expectations, worries and practices depend on parents' education, socioeconomic background, and parent-ing culture. This article builds on prior research by the authors with 70 families in seven European countries. We compare lower income/less educated families and higher income/more educated families as they promote or hinder children's (digital) literacy practices. We found that lower income families experience a genera-tional digital divide and feel less confident in scaffolding children's digital literacy practices. Instead, when parents use ICTs for work and/or are techno-enthusiasts, they are more engaged in children's online activities irrespective of their background. The approach towards digital play-as either a vehicle or an impediment to children's learning – is therefore indicative of different imaginaries around ICTs, different parenting styles and different mediation strategies.

2019

One of the effects of the development and widespread diffusion of digital technologies is that in contemporary homes children are being exposed to those technologies since birth. The present study aims to identify the general 'climate of concern' and to map specific worries that parents have with respect to their young children's digital lives. The study was theoretically framed by the intersection of parental mediation theory with media panics theory, and relied on data collected in three European countries (Portugal, Romania and Slovenia) as part of JRC project Young Children (0-8) and digital technologies. The data were collected in 2015, through family visits, this paper focusing on semi structured interviews that took place with parents. The results show that parents of children under 8 years old are concerned about health-related issues, screen addiction, exposure to age-inappropriate content, social exclusion by absence or under use of digital media, concerns of l...

Cyberpsychology

This study focuses on parental mediation of children's internet use in the context of broader gendered socialization patterns. Analyses were carried out in three steps using quantitative and qualitative methods. Firstly, based on EU Kids Online survey data, gendered patterns in parental mediation across European countries were explored. Secondly, detailed analysis of mediation practices in Estonia, one country in the EU Kids Online survey, was carried out. As the last step, data from two focus group interviews were used for in-depth analysis of Estonian mothers' everyday practices of mediating their children's internet use. Quantitative analysis revealed significant correlations between the number of gender differences in parental mediation, and country-level variables of internet penetration and gender equality. In Estonia, as a country with low gender equality, but high internet use, mediation strategies do not depend purely on children's gender, but on a more complex interrelation of gender and children's and parents' socio-demographic characteristics and parent-child interactions. This finding was supported and explained by qualitative analysis, showing that Estonian mothers' methods for mediating boys' and girls' internet use differ in several aspects, reflecting the broader context of changing socialization practices, gender norms, and the generation gap in using digital technologies.

The media habits of young children have changed over the years as new technology emerges and becomes ever more ingrained into the home and social contexts. As professionals who work with young children or/and with teachers of young children, it is imperative that we understand the realities of children’s lives with new media. In this text our goal is to think the childhood in the new familiar contexts, where the digital media are an important role, and discuss some aspects related with the parental media guidance, or mediation, of young children. Parental mediation is seen as a key strategy in developing children’s skills to use and interpret the media, foster positive outcomes and prevent negative effects of the media. We hope that this debate will contribute to a greater understanding of the parental roles today, namely in relation to supporting children’s digital literacy. (See Essay 1. pag.205) Keywords: Childhood; Digital media; Parental mediation.

Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace

The present-day reality that young children use digital media has forced parents to balance the risks and opportunities of the content that their children may encounter online. Current studies have mostly been quantitative. They have mainly focused on children aged 9 and older, and have addressed the types of mediation that parents use. However, they have not considered their relation to specific risks and opportunities. In the present study, we have sought to address this discrepancy and to understand the mediation strategies that parents use to shape the online experiences of their children. We focused on the factors that play a role in these mediations of specific risks and opportunities. In-depth semi-structured interviews with the parents of children aged 7–8 and their siblings in the Czech Republic (N=10 families) were conducted in 2014. A thematic analysis identified three main themes: (1) Mediation strategies of technology usage in relation to the mediation of online opportu...

The New Educational Review, 2020

Based on an analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2018 from the Žilina region in Slovakia, this paper intends to examine the relationship between parental mediation and parental digital media competence within households of children aged three to eight. Parent participants were recruited through schools that reflect the geographic representation of the entire region. In addition to 517 surveys, six onsite interviews with parents and observations of children interacting with digital media were collected. The research findings show that almost 50% of the children studied have access to tablets and laptops. The use of these digital devices increases with age. Qualitative data found that age and other contextual factors played a crucial role in the type of parental mediation implemented at home while quantitative data showed a significant positive correlation between parent's digital media competence and parental mediation behaviors such as enabling mediation, technical mediation, and monitoring.