Engl. transl.: Examining 0-6 Year Olds’ Use of Technological Devices from Parents’ Points of View

Technological tools are widely used in every area of daily life, such as entertainment, communication, housework, personal care, health, and transportation. Today’s needs make technology a necessity instead of a preference. Children often meet technological devices such as televisions, mobile phones, tablets, and computers in their daily lives, and these devices shape their communication, entertainment, and learning structures. For this reason, 0-6 year olds use of technological devices has been examined in this study using quantitative and qualitative research methods as a mixed-model type. The study was conducted using the snowball sampling method. The sample consists of 100 parents for the qualitative dimension and 181 parents for the quantitative dimension. The study’s sampling group consists of 281 parents in total. The study examines the choice of technological device; reasons for using technological devices; status of playing digital games, inside games, and outside games; and opinions about digital games’ differences using the qualitative method. The quantitative method has been used to examine parents’ descriptions of children who use technological devices and what demographic variables these children have. The reasons for preferring a certain technological device have been described using qualitative and quantitative methods and analyzed in terms of certain demographic variables. As a result of the research and according to parents’ perspectives, 44.8% of children aged 0-6 years have used mobile phones; 43.1%, tablets, 21.0%, computers; and 70.2% watch television. In addition, these children use technological devices mostly for watching animated films and playing games

According to the study data, 44.8% of children use mobile phones, and 14.4% of them started using mobile phones at the age of one. According to the parents, children’s purposes for using mobile phones are to watch animated films (26.5%) and play games (24.3%). Also, children’s reasons for preferring mobile phones are accessibility (13.8%) and always at hand (12.7%). According to the study data, 21.0% of the children use computers, and 5.5% of them started using computers at the age of two. According to the parents, children’s purpose for using computers is to watch animated films (11.6%) and play games (11.0%). Also, children’s reasons for preferring computers are their big screens (9.4%) and easy-of-use (5.5%). According to the study data, 43.1% of the children use tablets, and 12.7% of these started using tablets at the age of two. According to the parents, children’s purpose for using tablets is to play games (28.7%) and watch animated films (26.0%). Also, children’s reasons for preferring tablets are ease-of-use (18.2%) and independent use (16.0%). In addition, 70.2% of children aged 0-6 watch television, 22.7% of which started watching television at the age of one. (Aral & Doğan Keskin, 2018, p.344)