Parental Mediation of Mobile Media: A Exploratory Qualitative Study

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

Technology has rapidly advanced in recent years shifting the media context from stationary to more mobile devices. In addition to mobility, media content has become more educational and interactive. Current research provides evidence of the many ways parents use mobile media. Some research has found that parents use mobile media as a parenting or management tool (Wartella, Rideout, Lauricella, & Cornell, 2013); for others, mobile media is used as an educational tool (Terras & Ramsay, 2016). While research in this area has grown, there is a shortage of knowledge on how parents mediate their children’s mobile media usage (Clark, 2011; Jiow, Lim, & Lim, 2017). While scholars have developed and utilized parental mediation theory as a framework to understand how parents mediate and mitigate television and internet use, mediation styles that integrate other technologies such as tablets and smartphones have not yet been incorporated into the theory. This exploratory study sought to better understand parental attitudes, parenting styles, and mediation strategies regarding mobile media use in the home, as a way to develop new mediation strategies for parents to manage their children’s mobile media habits.

Methods
The current study utilized eight semi-structured interviews and demographic questionnaires to gain an emic understanding of parental decision-making regarding mobile media use of parents of children ages 0-5. Parent participants were recruited from early education centers in a city in Northern California using convenience and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to gain an understanding of parental decision-making regarding mobile media use within their family. These interviews were structured conversations that followed a predetermined set of questions to elicit parental perception regarding mobile media (Fylan, 2005). The interview protocol consisted of questions regarding parental attitudes, parental mediation styles, and general parenting style all directed toward mobile media. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, and to organize and draw themes within interviews to capture and express themes in detail (Braun & Clark, 2006).

Findings
Thematic analysis of the interviews identified eight themes regarding parental practices to regulate children’s mobile media: (1) parental practices; (2) mitigating and mediating; (3) supporting educational development; (4) perceived benefits and risk for development; (5) reservations regarding overuse of technology; (6) parenting style; (7) parental tool; (8) scaffolding and co-use. Although how parents deployed their specific rules and regulations may vary throughout parental interviews, the analysis revealed that parents are consciously making decisions to manage their children’s mobile media use by way of creating rules and regulations (parental practices) that are guided by their motivations including parental style, supporting education, perceived benefits and risks, and reservations regarding overuse. How parents enact rules and regulations are shaped by the context in which parents allow mobile media. This happens through mitigating and mediating, parental tool, and scaffolding and co-use. Findings suggest that parent mediation strategies and styles to manage children’s mobile media use have adapted to novel uses of technology. Findings from this study hold implications for families, research, and policy.

Authors

• Kodie Lee, California State University - Sacramento
  Presenting Author

• Kevin Ferreira van Leer, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author