“Parental mediation refers to the interactions that parents have with their children in regard to media usage”, specifically parental strategies that are meant to control, supervise, or interpret media content that the child may be exposed to (Lee and Chae 258). Forms of parental mediation fall into three different strategies: restrictive mediation, active mediation, and co-viewing. The first strategy that parents use is restrictive mediation. Restrictive mediation refers to rule-making and limit setting in the terms of time and content available to the child. In Lee and Chae’s study, “restrictive strategies tend[ed] to be the most preferred and practiced” (258). The most prominent aspect of this form of mediation refers to controlling the
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Active mediation involves an open discussion and evaluation of media between the parents and the children in an attempt to increase the understanding of digital media risks. Additionally, “[a]ctive mediation refers to parents’ explaining and discussing the undesirable aspects of media contents and appropriate media consumption behaviors” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 636). While restrictive mediation may be more commonly practiced, “active mediation has been found to be associated with various positive socialization outcomes in both traditional and new media” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 636). Not only has active mediation been found to have positive impacts, but “research also suggests that active mediation is more effective than other parental mediation strategies in reducing undesirable media effects on children” (Shin, Huh, and Faber …show more content…
Co-viewing was virtually never used and restrictive mediation was found to be the least effective of the three. For privacy concerns, “[a]ctive mediation was found to be positively associated with teenagers’ online privacy risks and negatively associated with teenagers’ willingness to disclose personal information on commercial websites” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 637). This fact may be due to children not understanding the risks if their parents do not discuss the risks with them. Despite being the more common practice for parents, restrictive mediation “was unrelated to online privacy concerns … [but it was] found more effective than non-mediation in reducing personal information disclosure among children aged 10-14” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 637). With many children having access to the internet from the privacy of their bedroom, co-viewing is becoming a less prevalent strategy for parents. Not only has the movement of electronics to a private place made it harder for parents, but also “children can open multiple windows when they surf the internet, and much internet content consists of texts and graphics without sound, which makes it hard for parents to easily notice what their children do online, and thus harder to monitor and control using traditional mediation strategies” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 645). All in all, active mediation proved the most effective strategy for parents
Active mediation involves an open discussion and evaluation of media between the parents and the children in an attempt to increase the understanding of digital media risks. Additionally, “[a]ctive mediation refers to parents’ explaining and discussing the undesirable aspects of media contents and appropriate media consumption behaviors” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 636). While restrictive mediation may be more commonly practiced, “active mediation has been found to be associated with various positive socialization outcomes in both traditional and new media” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 636). Not only has active mediation been found to have positive impacts, but “research also suggests that active mediation is more effective than other parental mediation strategies in reducing undesirable media effects on children” (Shin, Huh, and Faber …show more content…
Co-viewing was virtually never used and restrictive mediation was found to be the least effective of the three. For privacy concerns, “[a]ctive mediation was found to be positively associated with teenagers’ online privacy risks and negatively associated with teenagers’ willingness to disclose personal information on commercial websites” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 637). This fact may be due to children not understanding the risks if their parents do not discuss the risks with them. Despite being the more common practice for parents, restrictive mediation “was unrelated to online privacy concerns … [but it was] found more effective than non-mediation in reducing personal information disclosure among children aged 10-14” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 637). With many children having access to the internet from the privacy of their bedroom, co-viewing is becoming a less prevalent strategy for parents. Not only has the movement of electronics to a private place made it harder for parents, but also “children can open multiple windows when they surf the internet, and much internet content consists of texts and graphics without sound, which makes it hard for parents to easily notice what their children do online, and thus harder to monitor and control using traditional mediation strategies” (Shin, Huh, and Faber 645). All in all, active mediation proved the most effective strategy for parents