Children's use of ICT, family mediation, and social inequalities

Ana Matias Diogo
CICS.NOVA.UAc/CICS.UAC, University of the Azores, Portugal
Pedro Silva
CIIE, University of Porto / Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal
Joana Viana
UIDEF, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Children have increasing access, and at younger ages, to ICT. This results from state policy measures, or from families having progressively provided ICT access to their children, or both of these influences. As a critical approach to the impact of technology in the construction of social change, this paper seeks to understand how children's relationships are built with ICT, and how family background and mediation affects this relationship, within the context of socialisation and a certain position in social space. From two case studies we present results of a multivariate analysis as well as qualitative data. The data suggest that the democratisation of access to ICT, amplified by the wide distribution of a laptop computer to children in elementary schools, has resulted in distinct profiles of use by children. These profiles appear linked to different (academic and digital) family resources and diverse parental involvement concerning these uses (regulation and support).
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Authors: Ana Matias Diogo teaches at the University of the Azores, Portugal, and researches at the CICS.NOVA.UAc/CICS.UAC. Holding a PhD in sociology of education, she has been involved in projects and has published especially in the domain of school-family relationships. Email: ana.is.diogo@uac.pt Pedro Silva PhD in sociology of education, teaches at the School of Education and Social Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal, and researches at CIIE (University of Porto). His research interests lie in the areas of sociology of education, school-family relationships, intercultural education and mediation, and ethnography. Email: psilva@ipleiria.pt Joana Viana teaches at the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. and researches at the UIDEF. With a PhD in education, she focuses her research on the pedagogical use of ICT and curriculum development. Email: jviana@ie.ulisboa.pt Please cite as: Diogo, A. M., Silva, P. & Viana, J. (2018). Children's use of ICT, family mediation, and social inequalities. Issues in Educational Research, 28(1), 61-76. http://www.iier.org.au/iier28/diogo.pdf