Mediación parental en el uso de tecnologías móviles en niños y niñas costarricenses: Una aproximación metodológica mixta

Abstract

Mobile technologies are part of children’s everyday lives. However, little is known about their context of use in Latin America. The goal of this paper is to describe how Costa Rican caregivers and their children between the ages of 1 and 5 years old use smartphones and tablets. A mixed-methods approach was used, including two studies. Study 1 used non-participant observations to analyze family interactions related to smartphone use in food court areas in shopping malls. A total of 22 children were observed while interacting with their caregivers and their use of smartphones was registered (N = 269 events) and classified according to (a) the person who used the smartphone and (b) the actions that took place during its use. Results indicated smartphones were mostly used by caregivers (n = 226, 84.01 %), followed by a co-use to take pictures or make videos (n = 27, 10.03 %). Children’s use was infrequent (n = 16, 5.94 %). During caregivers’ use, children usually engaged in activities that did not involve their caretaker, such as silently eating, interacting with another adult not using a smartphone at the moment or looking around. When children attempted to interact with their caregivers while they were using their smartphones, caregivers rarely responded. No disruptive behaviors on children were observed after caregivers’ lack of response. Using a survey methodology, Study 2 explored children’s and caregivers’ use of mobile devices at home. A total of 42.9 % of caregivers reported they sometimes facilitate a device to their children to be able to accomplish other domestic and work-related tasks, as well as to satisfy personal needs. Daily duration of caregivers’ use of devices was longer on weekdays (M = 207 minutes, SD = 116.02) than weekends (M = 164.25 minutes, SD = 118.54). Caregivers’ daily duration of use was related to children’s daily duration of use during weekdays (r = .414) and weekends (r = .451), and during caregiving time on weekdays (r = .328) and weekends (r = .541). Using a Likert scale (1 = never, 5 = always), the children’s consumed content was explored. Findings indicate that children mostly consumed content from YouTube (M = 3.60, SD = 1.14) and children’s educational apps (M = 3.13, SD = 1.5). Use of educational videogames (M = 3.27, SD = 1.34), puzzle-like videogames (M = 2.36, SD = 1.26) and word games (M = 2.23, SD = 1.14) was more frequent than action (M= 1.48, SD = 1.02) and sports videogames (M= 1.55, SD = 0.93). Educational televised programs (M = 3.58, SD = 1.10) and musical cartoons (M = 3.27, SD = 1.11) were frequently consumed by children. A total of 47.2 % of caregivers also indicated that they always accompany their children while they use devices at home. Caregivers reported a higher use of technological restrictive mediation (M = 4.14, SD = 1.14) and supervision (M = 4.1, SD = 1.11), followed by instructive (M = 3.93, SD = 1.19) and co-use mediation (M= 3.62, SD = 1.14). On a scale of 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive), caregivers indicated that physical activity (M = 1.72, SD = 1.07) and sleep (M = 2.09, SD = .96) were most negatively affected by children’s device use, whereas mathematical (M = 3.36, SD = 1.04) and linguistic skills (M = 3.44, SD = 1.13) were the most positively affected. This study’s results provide a preliminary understanding of the context of use of mobile technology during caregiving of young children. https://doi.org/10.16888/interd.2022.39.3.10