This study investigates the role played by parents as mediators of young children's access and engagement with digital technologies. In Belgium, Germany, Latvia and Portugal, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 families in each country, including one child between 6 and 7 years old. Our findings show that parents of young children mainly play the role of 'gatekeepers' when it comes to facilitating and constraining access to and use of digital technologies. Parents' perceptions of the efficacy of digital technologies as responsible entertainment and as educational tools influence the technologies available at home and

No abstract

HighlightsActivation of sign language while bimodal bilinguals heard spoken words.Non-selective cross modality language activation in native and late signers.Parallel activation of the non-dominant language while using the dominant language. AbstractThis study investigates cross-language and cross-modal activation in bimodal bilinguals. Two groups of hearing bimodal bilinguals, natives (Experiment 1) and late learners (Experiment 2), for whom spoken Spanish is their dominant language and Spanish Sign Language (LSE) their non-dominant language, performed a monolingual semantic decision task with word pairs heard in Spanish. Half of the word pairs had phonologically related signed translations in LSE. The results showed that bimodal bilinguals were faster at judging semantically related words when the equivalent signed translations were phonologically related while they were slower judging semantically unrelated word pairs when the LSE translations were phonologically related. In contrast, monolingual controls with no knowledge of LSE did not show any of these effects. The results indicate cross-language and cross-modal activation of the non-dominant language in hearing bimodal bilinguals, irrespective of the age of acquisition of the signed language.

No abstract

Contemporary homes are filled with digital technologies, and children are exposed to them almost since birth, initiating their first digital experiences at very early ages (Chaudron et al., , Young children (0–8)). This trend is expected to become stronger, as our future has been envisioned around the concept of the IoT (Internet of Things), and the first smart toys are arriving at the homes of digitally savvy families. This study focuses on the digital practices of young children, looking particularly at smart toys, aiming to: a) explore how smart toys are being adopted by families, considering the perceptions of children and parents about drivers and barriers to adoption; and b) understand the domestication of smart toys. Our research is exploratory and builds on the theoretical framework, methodological protocols and ethical guidelines of the international projects “Young Children (0–8) and Digital Technologies” (Chaudron et al., , Chaudron et al., Young children (0–8); Dias and Brito, 2016, 2017, Crianças (0 a 8 anos)) and “Media and Social Discourses around Young Children and IoToys” (Mascheroni & Holloway, 2017). Our methodology is qualitative, based on visits to families including interviews with children and parents and participant observation. We selected a purposive sample of 21 medium‐ or high‐income and digitally savvy families in Portugal. Concerning drivers and barriers for adoption, most children identify several smart toys and express interest in having them. Parents are motivated by the amount of satisfaction that the toy will afford the children and the added‐value in terms of learning or developing skills. However, most parents prefer mechanical toys, sports or outdoors activities and the high price is an obstacle. Concerning domestication, smart toys are still scarce in homes and perceived as novelty, thus being in a very early stage of domestication.