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Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home

Janet Goodall Orcid Logo, Rosie Flewitt, Sandra El Gemayel, Lorna Arnott, Andy Dalziell, Julia Gillen, Sabina Savadova, Sarah Timmins, Min-Chen Liu, Karen Winter

Educational Review, Pages: 1 - 26

Swansea University Authors: Janet Goodall Orcid Logo, Sarah Timmins

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/00131911.2025.2579531

Abstract

Digital devices are now found in the majority of homes, including the homes of very young children, and may be said to be a “dominant force” in their lives. This highlights the critical role parents play in mediating their very young children's access to, ownership and use of digital technology...

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Published in: Educational Review
ISSN: 0013-1911 1465-3397
Published: Informa UK Limited
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70735
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spelling 2026-01-20T13:31:43.7414483 v2 70735 2025-10-20 Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home ff88a186bd447a1af286d2468fc61688 0000-0002-0172-2035 Janet Goodall Janet Goodall true false 4a367f4903e655997c24e694d7478ede Sarah Timmins Sarah Timmins true false 2025-10-20 SOSS Digital devices are now found in the majority of homes, including the homes of very young children, and may be said to be a “dominant force” in their lives. This highlights the critical role parents play in mediating their very young children's access to, ownership and use of digital technology in the family home. One of the greatest challenges that parents experience is managing the tension between enhancing their children's digital opportunities and safeguarding them from its potential harms. Referred to as parental digital mediation practices, there is a body of work that both conceptualises these practices and explores their daily lived reality. While there has been a great deal of research around digital technology and parental mediation practices with older children, a stronger research base regarding very young children is needed; not least because there is a growing concern to ensure both digital inclusion and digital safety and privacy. Drawing on findings from a UK-wide study that explored digital ownership, use and parental attitudes and practices, in relation to very young children aged 0–36 months, this paper focuses on parents' perceptions of their mediation practices. The findings suggest that parents proactively mediate their children's use of digital technology using complex, fluid, nuanced and interrelated approaches and strategies. We suggest a new paradigm for capturing this complexity. We end by exploring the implications for research and practice. The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant Reference ES/W001020/1). Journal Article Educational Review 0 1 26 Informa UK Limited 0013-1911 1465-3397 Parental mediation, digital devices, young children 0 0 0 0001-01-01 10.1080/00131911.2025.2579531 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) This work was supported by Economic and Social Research Council [Grant Number ES/W001020/1]. ES/W001020/1 2026-01-20T13:31:43.7414483 2025-10-20T14:27:40.8537961 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Janet Goodall 0000-0002-0172-2035 1 Rosie Flewitt 2 Sandra El Gemayel 3 Lorna Arnott 4 Andy Dalziell 5 Julia Gillen 6 Sabina Savadova 7 Sarah Timmins 8 Min-Chen Liu 9 Karen Winter 10 70735__35856__c606a4d859bf42b192f97413c7b6cf3f.pdf 70735.VOR.pdf 2025-12-18T16:13:59.2751803 Output 1099134 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
spellingShingle Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
Janet Goodall
Sarah Timmins
title_short Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
title_full Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
title_fullStr Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
title_full_unstemmed Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
title_sort Parental mediation of very young children’s early experiences with digital media at home
author_id_str_mv ff88a186bd447a1af286d2468fc61688
4a367f4903e655997c24e694d7478ede
author_id_fullname_str_mv ff88a186bd447a1af286d2468fc61688_***_Janet Goodall
4a367f4903e655997c24e694d7478ede_***_Sarah Timmins
author Janet Goodall
Sarah Timmins
author2 Janet Goodall
Rosie Flewitt
Sandra El Gemayel
Lorna Arnott
Andy Dalziell
Julia Gillen
Sabina Savadova
Sarah Timmins
Min-Chen Liu
Karen Winter
format Journal article
container_title Educational Review
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container_start_page 1
institution Swansea University
issn 0013-1911
1465-3397
doi_str_mv 10.1080/00131911.2025.2579531
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description Digital devices are now found in the majority of homes, including the homes of very young children, and may be said to be a “dominant force” in their lives. This highlights the critical role parents play in mediating their very young children's access to, ownership and use of digital technology in the family home. One of the greatest challenges that parents experience is managing the tension between enhancing their children's digital opportunities and safeguarding them from its potential harms. Referred to as parental digital mediation practices, there is a body of work that both conceptualises these practices and explores their daily lived reality. While there has been a great deal of research around digital technology and parental mediation practices with older children, a stronger research base regarding very young children is needed; not least because there is a growing concern to ensure both digital inclusion and digital safety and privacy. Drawing on findings from a UK-wide study that explored digital ownership, use and parental attitudes and practices, in relation to very young children aged 0–36 months, this paper focuses on parents' perceptions of their mediation practices. The findings suggest that parents proactively mediate their children's use of digital technology using complex, fluid, nuanced and interrelated approaches and strategies. We suggest a new paradigm for capturing this complexity. We end by exploring the implications for research and practice. The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant Reference ES/W001020/1).
published_date 0001-01-01T05:33:27Z
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