Parenting the Mobile Internet in Italian Households: Parents' and Children's Discourses

Abstract

Drawing on the rich literature on parental mediation of children's use of digital and mobile media, this paper discusses the findings of an explorative study conducted in Italy, aimed at understanding how families appropriate smartphones in relation to the household's moral economy, their domestication of ICTs and the parenting style adhered to by parents. The aim of the paper is threefold: understand (1) how are social legitimations for or against children's use of smartphones constructed; (2) how do parents make sense of their mediation of children's mobile internet use drawing on different interpretative repertoires; and (3) how children negotiate, resist or evade parental justifications by producing alternative narratives.

Keywords::

• children
• mobile internet
• smartphones
• parental mediation
• parenting style

Notes

^1. Parents were asked if they check their children's smartphone, set rules to limit time or practices, allow them to pay for apps, and talk with their children about what they do on their smartphones.

^2. In order to collect their discourses around parental controls for smartphones.

^3. The code includes: gender, age, parenting type and focus group.

^4. Digital immigrants also share skepticism around restrictions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Giovanna Mascheroni

Giovanna Mascheroni holds a PhD in Sociology and is Lecturer in Sociology of Communication and Culture in the Department of Sociology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. She is the national contact of the EU Kids Online network and the project director of Net Children Go Mobile. She is a senior researcher at OssCom, a research centre on media and communication based at Università Cattolica. Her research interests are devoted to: young people and the internet, use of social networking sites, online participation, digital literacy and citizenship. Department of Sociology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Gemelli 1, Milano, 20123 Italy; [email protected]