Parental mediation and rules for children’s digital technology use during spring 2020 lockdown in Croatia

Abstract

The pandemic of the COVID-19 virus brought out many changes in family routines across the world. This research aims to investigate changes in rules for children’s digital technology (DT) use and parental mediation during the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia. Participants are 281 parents of children aged 3 to 14 years who completed an online survey containing questions about possible changes in the application of different rules regarding DT use and possible changes in different mediation behaviors regarding DT use during the lockdown in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia. Results are analyzed separately for kindergarten children and children attending primary school. Results show a trend implying that during the first lockdown in 2020 most families didn't introduce new rules or abandon them compared to the time before lockdown, but those that did point to parents allowing their children a little more freedom regarding DT, especially for school-aged children. Additionally, small changes compared to the time before lockdown are observed in parental mediation behavior, and these are most evident concerning activities aiming to enable more independent use of DT and safe (probably also more independent) use of DT among school-aged children. Keywords: Lockdown; Parental mediation; Digital technology; Children