The touch-screen generation: Trends in Dutch parents’ perceptions of young children’s media use from 2012–2018

Abstract

Abstract Based on a time-lag model, this study tested for changes in young children’s (1–6 years) home access and use of digital media in the 2012–2018 period as well as in their parents’ views on such media. What it found was that in only a few years the digital devices available to children have become more mobile (tablets and smartphones), more accessible, and more numerous in these children’s bedrooms, especially in single-parent households. Also, on average children have strongly increased their daily media use—up to 102 minutes. This is especially true for both younger children (3 years or less, plus 30 minutes) and children in middle to highly educated households (plus 25 minutes). Our findings support the complementary media adoption theory more than the displacement theory. Over the years parents have tended more and more to use digital media as ‘babysitters’, while they also found it increasingly difficult to stop their children from using such media, which may have major implications for parenting support activities.