Tuesday, March 19 2024

Parental mediation in the use of internet at home by minors is
widespread in Europe. The various styles however, correspond to levels
of effectiveness that tend to differ according to the legal frameworks,
values ​​and ideologies that guide the national education styles. This
is the principle argument developed in

Parental Mediation of Children’s Internet Use in Different European
Countries

, an interesting cross-cultural study conducted by Polish researcher
Lucyna Kirwil, published in the Journal of Children and Media
(Vol. 3, No. 4, 2009 , pp. 394-409).

Given what has emerged particularly in the Asian-American research- the
main source of knowledge of the new media- the analysis of correlations
between mediation practices, value orientations and problematic online
experiences has intended to verify the validity of a key part of the
study: the hypotheses regarding the relationship between culture and
the prevention of online risks in Europe. Information on the prominent
values that guide the education of children in Europe was taken from
the European Values ​​Study 1999 and the data collected
through the interviews of 1,949 parents/caretakers of children between
the ages of 6 and 17 years old in 18 European countries contained in Eurobarometer 2005-2006, the source of data on
household use of the Internet, online experiences and parental measures
taken.

The production of acquired material, carried out through the procedures
of the confirmatory factor analysis and cluster-analysis, permitted the
individualization of four cultural groupings along the theoretical
continuum of individualism-collectivism, which vary according to the
tendencies of the national education styles of particular countries:
those considered to be moving towards the promotion of personal
interests, thus favoring the development of a sense of self-esteem,
responsibility and personal initiative; or conversely, those moving
towards the subordination of these values to the logic of the group,
favoring in particular the development of a sense of obedience.

The crossing of variables brought to light two main findings. 1- The
parental mediation strategies based on technical solutions tend to not
be practiced much. 2- The majority of parents are against a shared use
of the Web, particularly those coming from a moderately to strong
individualistic culture (respectively, the countries of the Protestant
tradition in Northern Europe, those of the Catholic tradition, and
Greece) and a culture with mixed values ​​(English-speaking countries,
and Belgium). In a collectivistic-oriented group (post-communist
countries, and Portugal), there was a tendency for time limits of use.
In general, rules of access and duration, technical solutions,
software-based monitoring / filtering on PC, using and sharing
experiences of educational practices aimed at promoting critical
thinking skills of children, albeit with different weight percentages,
are present in all groups.

The overall analysis of the data suggests that: 1.The majority of
European parents, regardless of social and cultural constraints, prefer
to rely on multilevel strategies. 2. The roots and the priority levels
of the various forms of mediation tend to differ depending on the
cultural approach: the more individualistically marked the culture is,
the more prevalent are the forms of educational proposals, focused on
the potential of the individual and the means. On the contrary, where
the individualistic orientation is less rooted, more protective
pedagogical approaches tend to prevail, where attention is centered on
the risks arising from the use of the means.

Regarding the relationship between the strategies used and experiences
of online discomfort / danger reported, it was found that when parents
accompany their children when using the internet, it significantly
reduces the likelihood that children will have problematic experiences.
However, the level of protection of various practices seems to vary
according to the prevailing orientation of the culture. These
tendencies are particularly evident in the case of the time
restriction.

The study of Kirwil, mentioned here in its general outlines, has helped
define a first map of trends in the Old Continent. According to the
results, European parents consider it useful to mediate their
children’s internet use, especially for young children, which recent
data show to be the first drawn to the Web, attracted by ever more
easier, immediate and multimedia forms of interaction. If the study is
confirmed by more extensive sampling surveys, the figure is undoubtedly
comforting as it is in the home-family context that the children are
first socialized and encounter meanings, values ​​and norms on the use
of media. Moreover, this home-family context is the first area that the
child’s use of the media should be encouraged and accompanied through
stimulation and control action, with respect to their personality.

As mentioned above, the styles of mediation tend to be based on
multilevel synergetic strategies. This would seem to ensure a greater
level of protection, considering among other things, the different idea
of risk that adults and children have. This difference in perception is
often results from children failing to share their online experiences
with their parents and the parents’ lack of awareness or
underestimation of the type of internet activity in which their
children engage.

Finally, what emerges from the study suggests that paying more
attention to the socio-cultural context can help one understand in what
way the children of that context approach the internet and other media.
It is important to assess whether or not a given society tends to value
the sense of autonomy or conversely, the heteronomy of the people. This
favors the identification of the most effective practices of parental
mediation and the more appropriate institutional policies in support of
a safe and aware use of the Internet.

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