Child and Adolescent Cultural-Social Research

Child and Adolescent Cultural-Social Research

Studying the interaction methods of 9-11 year old children with smartphones and their understanding of this

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Zahra Ojagh, Institute For Humanities and Cultural Studies
2 IHCS · Department of Cultural Studies and Communication,Tehran.Iran
3 MS at Media Management, Faculty of Cultural Studies and Communication, Institution for Humanities and Cultural Studies ,Tehran.Iran
Abstract
Due to the lack or absence of scientific studies about children's interaction with the media and the lack of scientific solutions to increase children's ability to understand and shape this relationship, there is inadequate knowledge in this area. Most of studies focused on children's age groups and put a strong emphasis on the lack of benefits in Media-child relationship. Specifically, the type and the way that children interact with new media are not clear, and there is no knowledge about why and for what purposes children turn to using a smartphone. Covid-19 pandemic increased new media usage by children and make it as a necessary tool for education, entertainment and communication. Although, human could overcome it, in the contemporary risk society, appearance of such condition is possible, again. So, it is important and necessary to identify and understand how children interact with smartphones. Our objective is to understand how 9-11 year old children experience their communication with smartphones. The methodological approach is qualitative research and we use semi-structured interview method far gathering data which has been analyzed by thematic analysis based on the theory of use and gratification. Children use smartphones for different goals and various motivations excite them to interact with their phones based on our findings. Also, the more interaction with smartphones, the better skills to manage media usage.
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