Media, Family Interaction and the Digitalization of Childhood

Description

This is a first-class repository of new knowledge on how media and family routines intertwine in daily interactions. The multi-method approach reveals how varying forms of media affect the interaction between children and their parents. Avoiding criticism of these interactions, the contributors instead offer an impartial view of the natural occurrences in media-related family life. The first section of the book maps contemporary family life by providing methodological, theoretical and time-use reflections on media use and family communication. It goes on to reach into the private zone of family interaction through video-documented episodes, providing the reader with detailed interactional analyses. This exposes how the boundaries between virtual interaction and face-to-face interaction have become blurred. Offering a comprehensive picture of the complexity of digital family life, this book exposes the challenges and opportunities of modern parenting. Discussing largely unexplored phenomena that are applicable internationally, this book will appeal to a wide range of researchers and students in the fields of social sciences. Professionals such as psychologists, therapists and social workers will also benefit from the impartial insight this work gives into the media's impact on modern family interaction. Contents List of figures and tables List of pictures List of contributors Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: media and family interaction • Anja Riitta Lahikainen, Tiina Mälkiä and Katja Repo PART I: CONTEMPORARY FAMILIES AND MEDIA 2 New media, family interaction and socialization • Anja Riitta Lahikainen 3 Social interactional understandings in investigating family practices of digital media use • Susan Danby 4 Performative family life • Tiina Mälkiä 5 Children’s media use: the perspective of time use • Katja Repo and Satu Valkonen PART II: MEDIA-RELATED PRACTICES AND FAMILY INTERACTION 6 Practices of parental mediation in television viewing • Aku Kallio 7 Masculine and feminine aspects of interaction in the context of watching TV • Eero Suoninen 8 When a computer dominates a child’s attention • Eero Suoninen 9 The sticky media device • Eerik Mantere and Sanna Raudaskoski 10 Together individually • Sanna Tiilikainen and Ilkka Arminen PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION 11 The influence of parental smartphone use, eye contact and ‘bystander ignorance’ on child development • Sanna Raudaskoski, Eerik Mantere and Satu Valkonen 12 Family, media and the digitalization of childhood • Anja Riitta Lahikainen and Ilkka Arminen 13 Commentary: the need for evidence-based parenting support • Peter Nikken 14 Afterword • Jackie Marsh Appendix 1: Data collection and management Appendix 2: Transcription symbols Index