Parenting practices in the age of communication technologies: Media use in early childhood

In this thesis, the parental mediation strategies and practices of the 21st century digital immigrants, are studied in managing the media use of their digital native children who are introduced to technology at birth. In the study, childhood, media and parent relationship were evaluated using a multidimensional perspective within the light of the parental mediation theory. The role of digital literacy in enforcing children's rights to access, participation and protection from media and in smoothing digital inequalities was also examined. In this study, which focuses on the management practices of parents for their children's media use in the age of communication technologies, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 parents in the field, and media use of 0-6 years old children and the mediation strategies of parents were subjected to critical qualitative analysis. It is understood that a "limited" and "prone to exceed limits" relationship is established with the media in the context of education, entertainment and communication in early childhood. Parental mediation practices of 0-6-year-old children change and transform with the effects of factors related to the parents, the children and to the environment. Parents mostly use restrictive mediation and co-viewing and less active mediation and monitoring strategies. With the study, parental mediation rules, methods, the factors that shape them and the practices applied in the field are examined, and the cycle of changing and transforming parenting practices is revealed.