Children’s critical evaluation of parental mediation

Vol.9,No.1(2015)
Special issue: Mediation of Children´s ICT Usage

Abstract
Although the new sociology of childhood draws attention to societal influences on children’s experiences, it also sees them as active agents. This article investigates children’s perspectives on parental interventions in regards their use of the internet, an aspect not covered in the parental mediation literature. Although children are generally positive about this mediation, here we explore cases where children consider it to be problematic through analysing the EU Kids Online qualitative research conducted in nine countries. The material shows how parental advice can sometimes be less articulated, justified, and expressed in a sensitive manner, and why it sometimes lacks credibility in children’s eyes. The article illustrates how maturing children can develop a sense of social expectations about independence, trust and personal social space. This can have a bearing on how they evaluate parental monitoring. Lastly, the article examines factors inhibiting children’s willingness to confide in parents about sensitive issues, because of potential parental responses, parenting styles, and a fear of losing parental trust that children have gained as they have grown older.

Keywords:
Parental mediation; children; internet; qualitative research; EU Kids Online; new sociology of childhood
Author biography

Leslie Haddon

Author photo Dr Leslie Haddon is a visiting lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics. His research over the past decades has in general focused on the social shaping and consumption of ICTs. From 2006-2014 he had been part of the coordinating team of the EU Kids Online project that examined online risks and children and he also participated in the Net Children Go Mobile project on children’s use of smartphones and tablets.
References

Austin, E. (1993). Exploring the effects of active parental mediation of television content. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 37, 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159309364212

Clark, L. S. (2011). Parental mediation theory for the digital age. Communication Theory, 21, 323-342. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2011.01391.x

Critcher, C. (2008). Making waves: Historical aspects of public debates about children and mass media. In K. Drotner & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The international handbook of children, media and culture (pp. 91-120). London: Sage.

Desmond, R., Singer, J., Singer, D., Calam, R., & Colimore, K. (1985). Family mediation patterns and television viewing: Young children’s use and grasp of the medium. Human Communication Research, 11, 461–480. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1985.tb00056.x

Eastin, M., Greenberg, B., & Hofschire, L. (2006). Parenting the internet. Journal of Communication, >56, 486–504. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00297.x

Garmendia, M., Gariatonandia, C., Martinez, G. & Casado, M.A. (2012). Parental mediation and children’s exposure to risks on the internet: effectiveness of the different approaches. In S. Livingstone, L. Haddon, & A. Görzig (Eds.), Children, risk and safety online: Research and policy challenges in comparative perspective (pp. 231-244). Bristol: Policy Press.

Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Haddon, L. (2012). Parental mediation of internet use: Evaluating family relationships. In E. Loos, L. Haddon, & E. Mante-Meijer (Eds.), Generational use of new media (pp. 13-30). Aldershot: Ashgate.

Haddon, L., & Stald, G. (2009). A comparative analysis of European press coverage of children. Journal of Children and the Media, 3, 379-393. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482790903233432

James, A., & Prout, A. (Eds.). (1997). Constructing and reconstructing childhood: Contemporary issues in the sociological study of children. London: Falmer Press.

Kirwil, L. (2009). Parental mediation of children’s internet use in different European countries. Journal of Children and Media, 3, 394–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482790903233440

Kirwil, L., Garmendia, M., Garitaonandia, C., & Martínez, G. (2009). Parental mediation. In S. Livingstone & L. Haddon (Eds.), Kids Online. Opportunities and risks for children (pp. 199-216). Bristol: Policy Press.

Lambert, C., Wagner, U., & Gebel, C. (2014, November). Empowering parents for media education. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the European Communication Research and Education Association, Lisbon, Portugual.

Livingstone, S. (2002). Young people and new media. London: Sage.

Livingstone, S. (2009) Children and the internet. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. (2008). Parental mediation and children’s internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52, 581–599. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838150802437396

Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., & Görzig, A. (Eds.). (2012). Children, risk and safety online: Research and policy challenges in comparative perspective. Bristol: Policy Press.

Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., & Ólafsson, K. (2011). Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children. London: EU Kids Online. Available at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/33731/

Mascheroni, G. (2014). Parenting the mobile internet in Italian households: Parents' and children's discourses. Journal of Children and Media, 8, 440-456. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2013.830978

Nafus, D., & Tracey, K. (2002). Mobile phone consumption and concepts of personhood. In J. Katz & R. Aakhus (Eds.), Perpetual contact: Mobile communication, private talk, public performance (pp. 206-222). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pasquier, D. (2008). From parental control to peer pressure: Cultural transmission and conformism. In K. Drotner & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The international handbook of children, media and culture (pp. 448-459). London: Sage.

Pasquier, D., Simões, J., & Kredens, E. (2012). Agents of mediation and sources of safety awareness: A comparative overview. In S. Livingstone, L. Haddon, & A. Görzig (Eds.), Children, risk and safety online: Research and policy challenges in comparative perspective (pp. 219-230). Bristol: Policy Press.

Paus-Hasebrink, I., Bauwens, J., Dürager, A., & Ponte, C. (2013). Exploring types of parent–child relationship and Internet use across Europe. Journal of Children and Media, 7(1), 114–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2012.739807

Ponte, C., Bauwens, J., & Mascheroni, G. (2009). Children and the internet in the news: Agencies, voices and agendas. In S. Livingstone & L. Haddon (Eds.), Kids Online. Opportunities and risks for children (pp. 159-171). Bristol: Policy Press.

Priebe, G., Mitchel, K., & Finkelhor, D. (2013). To tell of not to tell. Youth’s responses to unwanted internet experiences. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 7(1), article 6. https://doi.org/10.5817/cp2013-1-6

Prout, A. (2008). Culture-nature and the construction of childhood. In K. Drotner & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The international handbook of children, media and culture (pp. 21-35). London: Sage.

Smahel, D., & Wright, M. (2014). The meaning of online problematic situations for children: Results of cross-cultural qualitative investigation in nine European countries. LSE, London: EU Kids Online. Available at < href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/56972/" target="_blank">http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/56972/

Smetena, J. (1995). Parenting styles and conceptions or parental authority during adolescence. Child Development, 66, 299-316. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131579

Valkenburg, P., Krcmar, M., Peeters, A., & Marseille, N. (1999). Developing a scale to assess three styles of television mediation: Instructive mediation, restrictive mediation, and social coviewing. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 43(1), 52–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159909364474

Valkenburg, M., Taylor Piotrowski, J., Hermans, J., & de Leeuw, R. (2013). Developing and validating the perceived parental media mediation scale: A self-determinist perspective. Human Communications Research, 39, 445-469. https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12010

Williams, S., & Williams, L. (2005). Space Invaders: The negotiation of teenage boundaries through the mobile phone. The Sociological Review, 53, 314-331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00516.x

Metrics

3286

Views

1815

PDF views