Children, digital screens and family: parental mediation practices and gender

Abstract

The objective of this article is to explore the gendered characteristics of digital parenting
 and parental mediation through a qualitative study developed with families and children in Argentina.
 Diverse typologies have recently been elaborated to better understand parental mediation
 of digital screens. Quantitative studies have correlated different styles of parental mediation
 with sociodemographic variables and have also assessed their effectiveness in preventing several
 online risks. In this paper we use qualitative data from a research developed using the technique
 of technobiographies to construct an in-depth approach to children’s practices and representations
 with multiple voices involved (parents, teachers, school authorities). As we show, different
 types of parental mediation are associated to mothers or fathers, following more broader gender
 ideologies and stereotypes. With insights from different families, we built research questions that
 state that there is a gendered division of digital parenting.