Family Media Practices in a Post-Pandemic Future: Conversations From a Transglobal Research Project

Abstract

This article is co-written by a team of researchers who worked together during the pandemic to conduct parallel research projects in their home countries, collectively referencing the project as Children, Media and Pandemic Parenting. Our article consists of a series of curated thought pieces, drawing on interviews with parents in Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, South Korea and the United States. The pieces consider how family media practices gained greater degrees of nuance during the pandemic through an examination of four interlinked themes: Screen time, creativity, schooling and regulation. We discuss how the intensified presence of digital technologies in domestic life was accompanied by an intensified sense of parental responsibility, creating undue pressure to make the ‘right’ decisions while often feeling ill-equipped to do so. We argue that parents could be better supported to make considered choices about media practices in the home if responsibilities were more widely distributed to include the likes of cultural institutions and, where appropriate (e.g., in the instance of tech companies), regulated by Government. Ideally, this support would be accompanied by the development of a range of tools that are responsive to the complex and evolving needs of families.