Games in the news
So, if you want a quick object lesson in how the media slants news about how kids use computers and computer games, look no further than this recent AP story about a new study (from CNN.com, originally available at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/27/kids.online.study.ap/):
Study: 1 in 3 parents say kids online too much
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — A third of parents believe children spend too much time online, and mothers worry far more than fathers about whether certain Internet sites are appropriate for kids, according to a new survey.
Researchers for the nonprofit Common Sense Media and education foundation Cable in the Classroom also found that one in four parents worried that time spent online kept children from exercising or enjoying the outdoors.
Now compare that opening to the study sponsors’ version of the results (from Common Sense Media):
New Poll Finds That Parents Are Taking Proactive Steps to Keep Kids Safe and Smart on the Web: Parenting Moves Online as Moms and Dads Balance Internet’s Benefits and Dangers
San Francisco, CA and Washington, D.C. “The majority of parents in the United States are taking action to ensure their children are safe and responsible while using the Internet, according to Parenting Moves Online: Parents’ Internet Actions and Attitudes, 2007, a new Cable in the Classroom/Common Sense Media poll conducted by Harris Interactive®.
In the survey released today, 85 percent of parents and legal guardians of children ages 6 to 18 who go online say they have talked to their child in the past year about how to be safe and smart online, and more than 93 percent say they have taken action to make sure the Web sites their kid visits meets with their approval.
Even though the vast majority (71 percent) of parents reported having experienced one or more Internet-related issues with their child within the past year, an overwhelming majority of parents also believe the Internet is helpful to their kids. Parents agreed that the Internet has helped their child to learn skills and information needed to succeed in school (81 percent), learn about different cultures and ideas (74 percent), access current events and news (68 percent), express him/herself creatively (65 percent), and connect to and collaborate with people with similar interests (53 percent).
“Many observers have expressed the fear that the Internet is a chaotic environment in which children are left to behave in unsupervised fashion. To the contrary, this research shows that today’s parents themselves are online, and their parenting has moved online as well,” said Helen Soula, Ph.D., executive director of Cable in the Classroom.
The press release follows with the concerns that lead in the AP piece–although one might point out that the real news, in a sense, is that 2/3 of parents don’t think their kids spend too much time online, and 3/4 are not worried that their kids get too much screen time.
But the important message–front and center in the Common Sense Media account, and burried or absent from the AP–is that parents are parenting. They are watching what their children are doing and helping them aviod the problems and make the most of a new tool that has tremendous potential.
New headline: One third of news outlets do a bad job reporting stories about computer and computer games!
Please note that the full study findings can be found online at http://www.ciconline.org/poll2007. There was one question asked regarding parents views of the appropriateness of their children gaming online with others – and a significant difference was found in the attitudes of fathers, who felt that online gaming with others was more appropriate/less inappropriate than mothers.
Thanks for posting the link to the full study, which is even more interesting than the press release. The gender difference in parental concerns is very interesting, and I’d love to hear what you think is driving it based on the data….
Going into the study, we felt that research on parental views about their children’s use of the internet was very thin. Our hypothesis was that parents of children of different ages would report different attitudes, actions, and experiences – and that is largely what we found.
We also did look at standard demographic differences among parents: age, education, gender, race, income, geographic region of the US, and metro/rural status.
There were very few significant differences by these demographic measures – and certainly not any discernible patterns – save for this one finding about parents views of the propriety of these emerging social uses of the internet. Here, as we reported, there was a striking difference between mothers/female guardians and fathers/male guardians.
I’d make two observations about this.
First, a methodological one. Our sample size was 411 – and while this was a sufficient N to see real differences like we reported – a larger sample might have revealed a more discernible pattern related to demographics. On the flip side, this underscores just how strong the gender difference is on this one set of items.
Two (and this is more of an impressionistic read of the data), there appear to be at least a couple of types of parents – in terms of their views of their children’s use of the internet – defined not by standard demographics, but by something else. Here I start to hypothesize: religion, politics, values, attitudes about technology, fear about ‘outsiders,’ etc.
To speculate even further and most directly on your question, mothers may be more in touch with their children’s experiences (or more concerned about their safety and development) than fathers They may be more involved in the transmission of values to their children. They may be less trusting of technology and the value of the internet, or they may read more hyperbolic media reports about the dangers of the internet. These are guesses, and mine are as good as anybody else’s here. I’d be curious as to what others think.
Clearly, while the internet is very much a part of the fabric of contemporary life for most people, parents (especially mothers) have a lot of concerns about its emerging, popular social uses.
Nonetheless, as other data shows, these concerns are not translating to changes in children’s behavior. Teens and tweens (and even younger children) are flocking to these sites – and moms and dads (to a lesser degree) may simply not understand or appreciate these relatively recent and profoundly different types of applications very much.
Thanks for that extra perspective. The background is really interesting. Are you planning a followup study?