This presentation addresses 3 questions: (1) How are parents of very young children managing or mediating their children’s digital activities? (2) Are there important socioeconomic variations in the type and amount of mediation? (3) How can parents of young children be better supported as they approach the task of parental mediation? To address these we draw on qualitative research with 70 European families, as originally reported in Chaudron S.,  et al. (2015) Young Children (0-8) and digital technology: A qualitative exploratory study across seven countries. Available at http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC93239

1. IAMCR 2015
14th July 2015 Montreal
Sonia Livingstone
s.livingstone@lse.ac.uk
Stephane Chaudron
stephane.chaudron@jrc.ec.europa.eu
1
As ever younger kids go online, how
are European families responding:
focus on socio-economic status
Sonia Livingstone, Giovanna Mascheroni, Michael Dreier
& Stephane Chaudron
www.jrc.ec.europa.eu
www.eukidsonline.net

2. Children are growing up digitally
April 2013 Terrelfamilyfun.com

3. Children use digital
technology from infancy
314 July 2015

4. 414 July 2015
JRC
0-8 Pilot Study - 2014
7 countries
70 families
Chaudron S., Beutel M.E, Černikova M., Donoso Navarette
V., Dreier M., Fletcher-Watson B., Heikkilä A-S., Kontríková V.,
Korkeamäki R-L., Livingstone S., Marsh J., Mascheroni G., Micheli
M., Milesi D., Müller K.W. , Myllylä-Nygård T., Niska M., Olkina O.,
Ottovordemgentschenfelde S., Plowman L., Ribbens W.,
Richardson J., Schaack C. , Shlyapnikov V., Šmahel D., Soldatova
G. and Wölfling K. (2015) Young Children (0-8) and digital
technology: A qualitative exploratory study across seven
countries.
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC932
39

5. • How are parents of very young children managing
or mediating their children’s digital activities?
• Are there important socioeconomic variations in
the type and amount of mediation?
• How can parents of young children be better
supported as they approach the task of parental
mediation?
Aims

6. Social class <-> understanding of good parenting
in US context (Clark, 2013) exportable in EU?
‘ethic of expressive empowerment’ of
upper and middle-class parents
-> raising self-confidence
vs
‘ethic of respectful connectedness’
-> following parental authority
in EU context ?
Why social class ?

7. • 10 families in each country
• Each with a 6/7 year old and younger
• Whole family interview
• Parent interview
• Child interview and observation
• Child games, drawings, media tour etc.
Method

8. Families and social class

9. Lower income, less educated
• Relatively high device ownership at home
• An ‘ethic of respectful connectedness’ in overall
parenting values
• A generation gap in ICT expertise between parents and
children, especially among immigrant families
• More restrictive parental mediation strategies
regarding digital devices, yet parents who are rather
ambivalent and worried about ICTs.
• “We have friends who let their children watch TV
while having breakfast alone in the kitchen, while
mum and dad get dressed, and you can see at school
they are already brainwashed I would say. I know it is
exaggerated, but they are dumb, like hypnotised.
That’s why I set the rule.” (Italian parent)
9

10. Lower income, more educated
• A mix of media-rich and media-poor homes in terms
of device ownership
• A variety of domestic circumstances with a high
proportion of single-parent households
• Fairly confident parents in terms of both their ICT
skills and thus their ability to prioritise active over
restrictive mediation.
• “The youngest [3 yr old girl] watches DVDs that are
actually intended for six-year-olds with her sister.
There are often Disney movies in which there might
be a scary moment. But that is guided of course. But
then I say, you know there is always a happy ending
but we need to go through this part. So, then we
discuss that. But, otherwise I think those [movies]
are fine.” (Belgian parent)
10

11. Higher income, more educated
• An ‘ethic of expressive empowerment’ in
parenting values
• A wide range of diverse mediation practices
including different strategies to manage
restrictions for digital device use
• Efforts to promote offline (non-digital)
activities for children while limiting digital
activities in the home
• Parents who work with ICTs or from home
using ICTs often find their own practices
undermine their efforts to limit their
children’s ICT use
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“If she watches Laura’s Star and the main
character is in danger, although she knows
that there will be a happy ending, I have to
be at her side. She couldn’t watch it alone.
It is the same with books. One cannot
simply read every one book to her,
especially in the evening. Bedtime stories
including, for instance a wolf or bad things
is a no-go for her. Accordingly watching TV
is regulated in the same manner. Most of
the time she loses interest anyway after
half an hour of watching TV.”
(German parent)

12. Conclusions
• Clark’s ethics of empowerment and respectfulness fit
higher/lower SES families in Europe well (better than
alternative theories?)
• Many European families have higher education/lower
income, and these more fit the empowerment model
• Parental expertise with and interest in digital media is a
crucial factor that cuts across SES differences
• Support for parental digital expertise and interest might
be the effective way of supporting lower SES families
• Even higher educated families would benefit from
guidance on how digital media can be used to empower
their children
• Parents prefer to receive support from their child’s
nursery/school yet this is rarely on offer
12

13. Thank you!
14 July 2015 13

14. The European Commission’s
in-house science service

15. The European Commission’s in-
house science service
www.jrc.ec.europa.eu
Digital Citizen Security Unit
Institute for the Protection and
Security of the Citizen
A study founded and coordinated by
Contact:
stephane.chaudron@jrc.ec.europa.eu
Report:
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
repository/handle/JRC93239
Young Children (0-8) &
Digital Technology