Presentation at the 7th Child and Teen Consumption conference, Aalborg, April 2016 Stine Liv Johansen, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Aarhus University Malene Charlotte Larsen, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Aalborg University

1. Stine Liv Johansen, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Aarhus University @stineliv
Malene Charlotte Larsen, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Aalborg University @malenel
Presentation at the 7th Child and Teen Consumption conference, Aalborg, April 2016

2. § Project headed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre
§ Young Children (0-8) and Digital Technology
§ 206 families in 18 countries
§ 10 families in Denmark with 5-6 year old children (5 girls, 5 boys) + siblings
§ Different family types (married, divorced, younger/older siblings, no siblings, half/step
siblings)
§ Mainly middle and upper middle class
§ Danish study in collaboration with
The Danish Media Council for Children and Young People

3. § Family interviews with probes (stickers,
drawings)
§ Two researchers attending each family
visit
§ Semi-structured interviews with parents
§ Informal conversations with children
and observations of their media use
§ Card games, visual tours

4. § RQ 1: How do children under the age of 8 engage with new (online) technologies?
§ RQ 2: How are new (online) technologies perceived by the different family
members?
§ RQ 3: What role do these new technologies play in the children’s and parents’ lives
(separately and in relation to family life in general)?
§ RQ 4: How do parents manage their younger children’s use of digital technologies?

5. § Danish children are heavy users of
digital media.
§ The iPad is the most commonly used
(and preferred) technology among
all the children in the study.
§ Generally, more than 90 % of Danish
children under the age of seven have
access to a tablet in the home*
§ Broadcast television is becoming less
important for the families in the
sample.
*The DR media research department's annual report on the use of
electronic media in Denmark, p. 26.

6. § Children under the age of 8 are
rarely 'online'; they use online
content, but they do not often
engage in practices such as online
gaming or social networking.
§ 'The Internet' is a non-concrete
issue for the children in the study.

7. INDIVIDUAL CONTEXT FAMILY CONTEXT
USE RQ 1:
Individual Use:
children/parents
RQ 3:
Family
Use/Dynamics/Practices
PERCEPTIONS/ATTITUDE
S
RQ 2:
Awareness to
risks/opportunities
· of the children
· of the parents
RQ 4:
Parental Mediation

8. INDIVIDUAL CONTEXT FAMILY CONTEXT
USE RQ 1:
Individual Use:
children/parents
RQ 3:
Family
Use/Dynamics/Practices
PERCEPTIONS/ATTITUDE
S
RQ 2:
Awareness to
risks/opportunities
· of the children
· of the parents
RQ 4:
Parental Mediation

9. “Sometimes, my brother and I sit
with our iPads and play Minecraft
together.”
- Silas, five years old
From individual use to family activity

10. From playfulness to relaxation
“I love playing with the iPad
because you don’t have to talk to
anybody while playing.”
– Nanna, 6 years old
“The girls definitely get inspired
by playing some of their games
on the iPad and then making up
‘real’ games from it”
– Nina, 32 years old

11. INDIVIDUAL CONTEXT FAMILY CONTEXT
USE RQ 1:
Individual Use:
children/parents
RQ 3:
Family
Use/Dynamics/Practices
PERCEPTIONS/ATTITUDE
S
RQ 2:
Awareness to
risks/opportunities
· of the children
· of the parents
RQ 4:
Parental Mediation

12. “She hasn’t really paid that much attention
to the iPad. Sometimes, I think we want her
to use it more than she does”
– Sanne, 32 years old
“This kind of endless American teenage
shows, where they say ‘Oh my God’, and
everything is pink (…) We don’t want her to
watch these, its not appropriate for her age,
and to me it’s just stupid”
- Benny, 38 years old

13. INDIVIDUAL CONTEXT FAMILY CONTEXT
USE RQ 1:
Individual Use:
children/parents
RQ 3:
Family
Use/Dynamics/Practices
PERCEPTIONS/ATTITUDE
S
RQ 2:
Awareness to
risks/opportunities
· of the children
· of the parents
RQ 4:
Parental Mediation

14. “I may have used it as a babysitter,
when he was a baby. This makes me
feel guilty (…) I think it can be too
addictive and become a habit. It
removes… I want us to be present.”
- Lisbeth, 33 years
“Sometimes we can see that Cecilie
needs to sit with the iPad and just
wind down. Perhaps for ten or
twenty minutes.”
- Kasper, 34 years

15. § Ambiguities of everyday life
§ Not a personal tool
§ Risks around the corner
§ Becoming a media user – consumer
and producer
§ The internet as an infrastructure
§ Browsing and choosing

16. § Stine Liv Johansen:
http://pure.au.dk/portal/da/imvslj@hum.au.dk
§ Malene Charlotte Larsen:
http://vbn.aau.dk/en/malenel@hum.aau.dk
§ Download full report:
http://www.dfi.dk/~/media/Sektioner/Medieraadet/internet%20nyheder/National%
20report_2015_Denmark_PROOFREAD.ashx