Mixed Messages About Young Children's Access to Digital Technology: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Considerations in Early Childhood and Elementary Literacy

Abstract

Competing narratives in media have the potential to confuse parents and educators attempting to navigate digital childhoods. This paper reports on an analysis of a convenience sample of 60 print and online articles that describe children’s digital engagement through a focus on ‘early literacy’, ‘digital literacy’, or ‘children’s digital engagement’. Findings reveal mixed messages about children’s access to and use of digital technology that reach parents and educators, creating competing frames for supporting digital literacy practices. Digital technology was often characterized as something to limit/control, except within the school context, where digital literacy is characterized as holding a proper place when controlled by educators. Consistent across media messaging was the promotion of print-based texts as an essential early literacy practice.

Authors

• Laura Teichert, Western Michigan University

• Ann Anderson, The University of British Columbia

• Jim Anderson, The University of British Columbia

• Jan Hare, The University of British Columbia

• Marianne McTavish, The University of British Columbia