Orig. title: Percepción de los y las menores de la mediación parental respecto a los riesgos en internet
Engl. transl.: Children’s perception of the parental mediation of the risks of the Internet
Keywords
Teenagers
childhood
children
internet
social networks
risks
Publication details
| Year: | 2015 |
| DOI: | 10.4185/RLCS-2015-1034 |
| Issued: | 2015 |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Volume: | 70 |
| Start Page: | 49 |
| End Page: | 68 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Jiménez Iglesias E.; Garmendia Larrañaga M.; Casado del Rio M.Á. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Revista Latina de Comunicación Social |
| Topics: | Social mediation; Risks and harms; Literacy and skills |
| Sample: | Fieldwork was carried out from March 2013 to June 2014 and focused on studying in depth the perceptions of Spanish children aged 9-16. The objective was to cover the 9 to 16 age group, differentiated by gender, and in three age groups: 9-10, 11-13 and 14-16. A total of 12 focus groups and 24 in-depth interviews were carried out. Four focus groups were carried out for each age group –two with girls and two with boys– and eight additional individual interviews –four with girls and four with children–. The recruitment of children was carried out through eight selected schools, where the fieldwork was carried out, respecting the geographical diversity and plurality of the Spanish educational system. After selecting the schools, we contacted their schools’ principals to inform them of the objectives of the research and ask them to select children to be interviewed. The focus group sessions lasted an average of 76 minutes, while the interviews lasted about an hour. The interviews and focus groups were guided by a list of open questions about the internet use and the perception of risks. To preserve the anonymity of the children interviewed, the results only refer to respondents’ gender (boy or girl) and age group. The focus groups and interviews were recorded and transcribed and then systematically encoded according to a list of categories, in order to classify the content extracted from the fieldwork and to respond to different research objectives. In addition, a second coding and analysis was carried out according to different variables. Both analyses were compared and employed for the discourse analysis by areas and the formulation of conclusions. |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation; Parental digital literacy ; Parenting guidance / support |
| Implications For Educators About: | Other |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Other |
| Other PolicyMaker Implication: | The importance of developing and including critical digital media literacy programs (subjects) in schools |
Abstract
Introduction: This article addresses the role of the various agents that mediate children‟s internet use: parents, teachers and peers such as classmates and friends. Method. The study is based on a qualitative approach that involved focus groups and interviews with children aged 9-16, and the analysis of children‟s discourses. Results. The results focus on children‟s perceptions of their relationship with their classmates, friends, teachers and parents in relation to internet use.
Conclusions. Children show a high degree of awareness about the risks of the internet, and greatly value the support of their friends in solving the problems they find online. However, children do not trust their parents for the mediation of their online activities despite recognising that their parents are those who can help them out the most
Outcome
Results show that Spanish Children are aware of the importance of their parents as regulators of their access to certain contents on the internet, particularly in the phases in which navigation is incorporated. The role of the parental figures loses relevance in favour of the influence peers acquire in the discovery of online content and platforms as children get older.
Friends and classmates play a fundamental role in regards to the use of ICT and the internet in particular. However, friends and classmates also seem to be an important element when it comes to take risks and adopt behaviours with known possible negative consequences.
As a general rule, children know about many of the risks associated to the internet and some of them take those risks. However, children do not always admit to adults that they have disobeyed because they fear to their parents’ reaction for having challenged some of the implicit and explicit prohibitions set by their parents.
For the final management of their problems, children trust parents, and not peers, who are a source of learning, because parents are perceived to be the most efficient in solve conflicts. Jiménez-Iglesias et al. (2015), advice that as far as evidence shows that on some occasions friends are the most immediate option to solve problematic situations, "it should be emphasised the need for children to get to know the tools and resources they need, not only for self-protection, but also to be able to help each other if necessary" (p. 67). and advice "to strengthen communication and channels of trust between adolescents and adults, and to establish other ways for children to feel safe to raise the different problems they can face on the internet as well as developing media literacy programs going beyond the traditional demand for an education programme that, in general terms, educates children on how to critically consume information" (Jiménez-Iglesias et al., 2015: 67)