Parenting in a Digital World: Beyond Media Panics Towards a New Theory of Parental Mediation

This book focuses on the challenges of parenting in the digital age, providing a counter-narrative to, and critique of, risk and cyber safety narratives, as well as some suggestions for a way forward.

Drawing on qualitative research with Australian families, this book explores the knowledges, practices, anxieties and lived experiences of families themselves. It demonstrates that the realities of family life in the digital age are more complex than the headlines and cyber safety advice would have us believe, as parents grapple with balancing their own anxieties and social expectations about what it means to be a ’good’ parent, with the practices, desires, and rights of their child. It addresses key questions including: How much attention should we pay to media headlines about the dangers of contemporary media? What is actually worrying Australian parents and how do they address these concerns? Why do young people love media so much? How capable are young people of actually managing online risk? What is the right way to parent in the digital age to ensure young people’s safety and wellbeing while minimising family conflict?

Aimed at media studies scholars and students, as well as parents and policy makers seeking a more comprehensive understanding of the broader academic research surrounding young people, media and parenting, this book argues that parent and child knowledges, practices and experiences must be better accounted for within the online safety ecosystem as well as in policy development, and that families need encouragement and guidance to help them adopt more democratic approaches to parenting in the digital age.

Catherine Page Jeffery is a Lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is currently on the board of Children and Media Australia and previously worked in internet content regulation and online safety for the Australian Government.