Engl. transl.: Children and Media in the Covid-19 Crisis. Austrian Results of an International Study

The article is dedicated to the importance of media in the everyday life of children (9 to 13 years) during the first phase of the corona crisis. For this purpose, the Austrian data of the worldwide study "Children, Covid-19 and Media" were evaluated and compared with the international data of the same study. This showed that children in Austria were confronted with a number of challenges, which they coped with, among other things, with the help of media. For example, they increasingly used media to maintain social contacts, for learning, for mood regulation and for information purposes. This was reflected in increased media use, which made the regulation of media time more important. In many cases, parents set the framework. But the children themselves also used a number of strategies to ensure a balance between media use and other activities in this exceptional situation.

"Media played an important role during this time, both in Austria and internationally. While in many other countries it was mainly television that was increasingly used, in Austria the mobile phone was the leading medium during the crisis. In second place were books and television, but also the mobile phone application WhatsApp - which again illustrates the dominant role of the mobile phone. Many children reported that they kept in touch with their friends via video chat, WhatsApp, phone calls or playing computer games together. This was also one of the most important reasons for the increased use of media. Besides social functions, media in the lockdown also fulfilled affective and informative functions. They were used to relieve boredom, to find learning materials or to keep up to date with current events. Austrian children also used media to regulate their mood, although less frequently than in other countries." (Ortner/Kovacs/Jadin, 2020, 28; translated by the coder)