Lecture given at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University.

1. MEDIATED CHILDREN
From Couch Potatoes to Digital Natives
Jaime R. Riccio
Ph.D. Student, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University
@Slaymer

2. BY THE NUMBERS
Avg: ~20 hours per week
Kids spend ~10.5 hrs/day w media
80% have cable
58% kids watch TV every day
80% have internet access
- 4.5 hours
<5% “zero TV” homes
70% kids own a mobile device
>45% get TV online
38% kids under 2 use mobile
devices
Sources: Pew, Nielsen, Kaiser Fdn.

4. WHAT IS MORAL PANIC?
“Hypodermic Needle”
Cultivation Theory (Gerbner)
Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
- Modeling

6. TUNING IN
TV introduced in 1928
 Felix the Cat
 In homes by 1950s
Kids Shows
 1950 - Children‟s programming
 ABC Saturday mornings
 Howdy Doody
 1960s – Cartoons
 Late 1960s – Education
 Flintstones
 1968: Mr. Rogers
 1969: Sesame Street

7. ADVERTISING
No product placement
Can’t interrupt kids’ programming unless 30 mins
No back-to-back ads featuring show characters
No “vice ads” featuring kid-friendly characters
No ads for “vices” before 10pm

8. MORAL PANIC
Violence
Physical health
 60% of TV is violent
Weight
- Snacking
Smoking
 Increase in risky behaviors
 Aggression
 Desensitization
 Bandura‟s “Bobo” Doll
Ad Issues
 Sexualization
 Body image issues
 Eating disorders

10. GAMING
Play What?!
 1958 – Tennis for Two
 Brookhaven oscilloscope
 1962 – SpaceWar!
 Computer system
 1972 – Atari
 Home system
 Pong
Popular Devices
 1980s
 Nintendo NES („85)
 Sega Genesis („88)
 1990s
 PlayStation („94)
 2000s
 Microsoft Xbox (‟01)
 Now: Mobile gaming!

11. MORAL PANIC
Violence
68% of games are violent
- Desensitization
- Aggression
- Risky acts
Case Study: Columbine shootings
Doom

13. SURFING
The Evolution of WWW
 1963 – ARPANET
 1982 – TCP/IP
 1990s – dial-up
 1992 – CERN
 1995 – Yahoo!
 2000s – broadband
Just for Kids
 COPPA
 FTC – 1998
 Updates June 2013

14. MORAL PANIC
Vulnerability
- Advertisers
- Online predators
Privacy
From companies
From peers
From strangers
Instant gratification

15. Image from http://cmn4ward.wordpress.com/category/theory/

18. LAPTOP
IBM 5100, 1975 – first portable computer
1983 – first “laptop” (Gavilian SC)
“Modern” in the 1990s
For Kids
 62% own
 In school
 In play

19. SMARTPHONE
Global market share: 22%
 1 in 5 people
 ~40% of kids
Brands
 Nokia – 1996
 BlackBerry – 1999
 iPhone – 2007
Source: Business Insider

20. TABLET
Global market share: 6%
 1 in 17 people
 ~40% of kids
Faster adoption than smartphones!
Brands:
 Microsoft Tablet PC – 2000
 iPad – 2010
 Kindle Fire – 2011
Kids
 Fuhu Nabi – 2012
 Innotab – 2012
Source: Business Insider

21. SOCIAL NETWORKING
Facebook
Visual
 Founded 2004 by Mark
Zuckerberg
 1.1 billion users
Tumblr - 2007
 Lots underage!
Instagram - 2010
**SnapChat - 2012
Vine - 2013
Twitter
Founded 2006
500 million users
Source: EBizMBA

23. DO KIDS ‘GET’ SOCIAL MEDIA?
Yes. They do!
 Facebook
 13 year olds now public
 7.5 million kids under 13
 5 million under 10
 Twitter
 Age Screening app
 Most profiles public
Kids’ SNS
Club Penguin
Dgamer
Apps
Oregon Trail
Flow Free
PBS Kids
Snapchat - #1 for teens

24. MORAL PANIC
Values
Overstimulation
 Increases future attention
problems/ hyperactivity
Multitasking
 SelfControl app
Privacy
 Not valued as much
 Instant gratification
 Narcissism
 Desire for fame ranked #1 in tweens
 Performance?
 Relationships
 “Friends”
“Connected disconnect”
“The tethered child”

25. CYBERBULLYING
Affects almost half of all teens
Anonymous
 43% of teens
 16%-30% of high schoolers
 6% of children aged 11-18
 'Keyboard courage‟
Pervasive
 No "safe haven"
 Visible to world
Other Types
 Cyberstalking
 Catfishing
 Sexting
 False memorials
Source: CDC

26. IS IT ALL BAD? OF COURSE NOT!
Community
Gives kids a voice
Gathering space for all
Education
 Freedom to express like never
before
 Navigate new worlds
 Impression management
 “Information Age”
 150,000 apps for education
 PBS Kids, Fisher Price = best-selling
 Vocab app shows 31% improvement

27. NAVIGATING THE ‘WEB’ OF CHILDHOOD:
10 – 13 year-olds’ use of Facebook
5 children from NY/NJ
- 3 boys, 2 girls
“Netnography” & interview
7 Themes

35. 












Ikr
smh
stfu
ily
idk
idc
tbh
a‟f
gtfoh
hyfr
lms
gUd
&joi
 I know, right?
 shaking my head
 shut the f*** up
 I love you
 I don’t know
 I don’t care
 to be honest
 “…as f***”
 get the f*** outta here
 hell yeah f***ing right
 like my status
 good
 enjoy
The digital generation.
What will they bring? Who will they be?

36. MEDIATED CHILDREN
From Couch Potatoes to Digital Natives
Jaime R. Riccio
Ph.D. Student, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University
@Slaymer