Young Children’s Electronic Media Use and Parental Rules and Regulations

Abstract

Today’s children are born and raised in media-saturated environments, surrounded by televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones, and other portable electronic devices. Because these devices have become an indispensable part of everyday life, they have a significant influence on children's entertainment and leisure, as well as their education. This study, therefore, examined how early and how much young children (from 0 to 6 years of age) use television, computers, and tablet/smartphones, specifically whether this media usage is directly affected by socio-demographic factors related to parents (i.e., their education, income, and age), the children themselves (i.e., their age, gender, and the presence and number of siblings), and the media environment in their homes (i.e., the availability of media, parental opinions about media, and regulation of media use). The sample for this study consisted of 412 parents of 0- to 6-year-old children who brought their children to the Social Paediatrics Department of the Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey, for developmental check-ups. The data for this study were collected through a questionnaire that was prepared by the researcher. The findings indicate that almost all children live in homes with different types of electronic media devices and the children’s home electronic media environments and their parents’ demographics are important predictors for their usage of electronic media.

Keywords

• electronic media use by children
• home electronic media environment
• parental mediation of media use