Use of touchscreen technology by 0–3-year-old children: Parents’ practices and perspectives in Norway, Portugal and Japan

Abstract

<jats:p> This paper discusses findings from online surveys completed by parents of 0–3-year-old children in Norway, Portugal and Japan concerning their young children’s use of touchscreen technology. The study investigated parental practices, views and perspectives related to children’s digital practices and explored these in relation to wider cultural discourses around early childhood in the participant countries. The study adopted Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to inform the questionnaire and interpretative data analysis of how parents’ views and experiences are influenced by a wide range of social, cultural and personal factors. The findings demonstrate some coherence between beliefs among parents regarding very young children’s use of touchscreen technologies and their place in the children’s home lives. Quantitative and qualitative results highlight that the respondents from all countries expressed the need for further guidance regarding technology use, and better communication with early education and care centres. The study findings are discussed in relation to the reported uses of touchscreen technologies in the three different cultural contexts, parents’ views on the benefits and/or disadvantages of children’s touchscreen technology use, and the potential influences of dominant cultural discourses on parents’ perceptions, views and practices. </jats:p>

Mobile device use among preschool-aged children in Greece

“…Furthermore, these results are confirmed in other international studies, such as Dardanou et al ( 2020 ). In their study, Dardanou et al ( 2020 ) analyzed 0- to 3-year-olds children’s use of touchscreen devices at home in three different countries, Japan, Norway, and Portugal. The study results revealed that touchscreen technologies dominate in these three different countries.…”

“…Marsh et al ( 2015 ) reported that 0–5-year-olds had access to a tablet at home on an average of 79 min per day. In Japan, almost half the two-year-old children watched videos or played games through their parents’ smart screen devices for 60–80 min per day on average (Dardanou et al, 2020 ). Similarly, in the United States, children as young as four years of age spend an average of an hour per day on an interactive screen device (Rideout, 2017 ).…”

“…Given the potential that young children nowadays can have their digital experiences at an ever-earlier age, parents’ attitudes and beliefs enable or constrain this opportunity. These perceptions may vary according to the social, cultural, and economic diversity in which that behavior occurs (Dardanou et al, 2020 ; Kaya, 2020 ). A study with the parents of 0–8 aged children in the United States showed that their screen use habits strongly influence their children’s screen use.…”

“…Internationally, scientists voiced possible adverse outcomes from frequent technology use by young children in the previous years (Radesky et al, 2016 ). Nevertheless, in the last decade, interactive touchscreen devices are part of young children’s lives (Burns & Gottschalk, 2019 ), and toddlers have first experience with touchscreen technology before the age of two (Dardanou et al, 2020 ; Rizk & Hillier, 2020 ).…”

Sociodemographic Correlates of Parental Co-Participation in Digital Media Use and Physical Play of Preschool-Age Children

“…Nevertheless, the sociodemographic factors which correlated with co-participation are likely to have a positive influence on the social and emotional components in the FEM and, thus, enable co-participation. For health promotion in practice, evidence-based guidance, such as guidelines on parental co-participation and on a daily balance between PA and DMU, is needed [ 21 ], as well as in parents’ views [ 98 ]. However, the findings reveal the need to take into account the sociodemographic differences that influence parents’ abilities and needs to co-participate.…”