The social perceptions of young children’s use of smart devices in South Korea: Evidence from big data methodologies

Abstract

The study explored the social perceptions of young children’s use of smart devices in South Korea using big data methodologies. Big data methodologies allowed to uncover underlying thoughts and feelings about young children’s use of smart devices that had not been discovered in existing studies. The study extracted raw data from three different groups: the public, the journalist, and academia. Then, the study conducted keyword frequency, sentiment analysis, and CONCOR analysis with UCINET 6.0. The results of the study revealed that each group viewed young children’s use of smart devices in a different way. The public was interested in effective use of smart devices while the journalist focused on educational aspects. The academia focused on parents’ perception of smart devices from a developmental perspective. Regarding the results of sentiment analysis, they showed that each group had different opinion on young children’s use of smart devices. The public had an ambivalent attitude toward young children’s use of smart devices. While the journalist showed a positively inclined attitude, the academic had a negatively inclined attitude.