Screen Media Modeling & Mentoring: Parents' Views

ABSTRACT

Screen media modeling and mentoring is an important factor of family media practices and for tech readiness of digital youth. The authors conducted a qualitative study to examine the media practices within families with children ages 5–11. Semi structured interviews with 51 parents revealed that parents and other significant people, such as grandparents, siblings, friends, and community members, mentor or model media practices with children but practices vary between families and within contexts. Further, there are direct and sustained impacts on children's screen media behaviors when parents actively participate in mentoring or modeling of screen media with their children. Findings also shed light on other influencing factors of screen media engagement, such as modeling styles, parent's prior experience and comfort with technology, personal backgrounds, and concerns about their own use of screen media. Findings are useful as information professionals engage with children when navigating the post-Covid digital landscape. 85th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology ;Oct. 29 – Nov. 1, 2022 ;Pittsburgh, PA. Author(s) retain copyright, but ASIS&T receives an exclusive publication license.