Engl. transl.: Kindergarteners’ ICT Use at Home – Parental Role Modeling and Engagement

The expansion of information and communication technologies (ICT) has brought along an increase in the number of research focusing on the use and impact of ICT. Samples of these studies were mostly drawn from school-aged and older populations, so there is hardly any information on kindergarten aged children. More specifically, current data from large-scale studies on kindergarteners’ and their parents’ ICT use are not available. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to examine (1) the ICT kindergarteners use at home, (2) the frequency of use and (3) screentime, and (4) the extent of parental engagement and control. In addition, we aimed at examining the relationship between parental education and children’s ICT use. Our findings show that the vast majority of kindergarteners grow up in a technologically rich household, and some of them have their own ICT. In this age group, the daily use of ICT is not prevalent, but parents' responses have revealed that the children consume a very wide range of content on the internet. Parents' responses also reflect the multiple-year-long debate about the perceived or real beneficial or harmful effects of devices, as some of the children do not use ICT at all, even though they have at least one gadget in every household. Our data have shown that the permission to use a child's device and its duration and frequency is not, however, parental control is associated with parental education. Our results also point to the importance of parental role modeling, as the extent of children’s ICT use is related to the extent of the parents' device use.

The study did not found significant inequalities in access and in case of 31% of the families even the kindergarteners themselves own a device. Most of the kids used ICTs and less then 20% did not. Those children who use these tools the average weekly screentime is approximately 5 hours. The time parents spent online showed connection with the tome their children spent with screen activities. Children mostly watch cartoons and play online. Most parents control their children online activities, limit the screentime, and sometimes use the internet together with their children. They also use ICT tools and screentime as a motivating tool or punishment by taking back the sreentime). "Eredményeink megmutatták, hogy a vizsgált óvodáskorú gyermekek döntő többsége technologizált környezetben nő fel, és egy részük maga is rendelkezik IKT-eszközzel. Ebben a korosztályban még nem igazán jellemző a napi szintű eszközhasználat, azonban a szülők válaszai rámutattak, hogy a fogyasztott tartalmak igen széles skálán mozognak. A szülők válaszai leképezik az évek óta tartó vitát az eszközök vélt vagy valós, jótékony vagy káros hatásáról, hiszen a vizsgált gyermekek egy része egyáltalán nem használ IKT-eszközt, annak ellenére, hogy legalább egy darab van minden háztartásban. Az emögött meghúzódó okok, érvek feltárása fontos feladatunk. Annál is inkább, mivel eredmények azt jelzik, hogy a szülő fontos csatorna lehet a gyermekek eszközhasználatának alakításában." (Hódi Ágnes, Tóth Edit, B. Németh Mária és Fáyné Dombi Alice: Óvodások IKT-használata otthon – szülői minta és szerepvállalás, Neveléstudomány, 2019/2, pp: 22-41, p:40) "Or results showed that most children included to the study are growing up in a environment which is permeated with technology and some of the even have their own devices. In this age groups daily usage is rare, but as the responses of the parents showed the usage types are very varied. The responses of the parents mirror the long lasting debate about the real or perceived positive and negative effects of ICT use, as some of the children did not use at all such tools even though those were available in the household. Revealing the causes and arguments behind these decisions is an important research task, especially because our results showed that parents are important channels in influencing the children's ICT usage." (Hódi Ágnes, Tóth Edit, B. Németh Mária andFáyné Dombi Alice: Óvodások IKT-használata otthon – szülői minta és szerepvállalás, Neveléstudomány, 2019/2, pp: 22-41, p:40)