Teresa Sofia Castro

Not much parental mediation research is informed by children’s views. The overall contribution of this chapter is to offer pre-adolescents’ critical reflections, supported by their own voices on this matter. Despite being receptive to adults’ involvement in their digital lives, children request from parents that their digital freedom, privacy, and autonomy are respected. The data discussed here involve selected situations in which to pre-adolescents’ eyes, the parental intervention can be a source of tension to the child–parent interactions. Participatory strategies were privileged to generate in-depth narrative data. The fieldwork involved 41 (33 girls and 8 boys) pre-adolescent children (mostly aged 10–12 years), mainly from low and medium socioeconomic status. The chapter builds on everyday situations in a stage of their young lives when they start using digital devices for personal and interactive purposes with more autonomy. Approaching the data using thematic and narrative analysis methodologies enabled to identify three central themes: parents’ digital anxieties, media moulds parents’ perceptions and children’s response to parental mediation. As children’s talks show, much of parents’ interventions are influenced by moral panics and anxiety discourses inflamed by the media. The narratives confirm the role media plays and how it impacts the way parents form risk perceptions and react to children’s digital activity. In line with this, parents’ policing approaches tend to arise in response to fears amplified by the media, but also as a response to social expectations on good parenting. The chapter concludes with the paradoxical claim that overprotection challenges children’s own protection, and more social problems may arise from this mismatch between children’s interests and parents’ expectations. Children’s arguments not only inform us of their perspectives, but they also instigate us to support that parental mediation should pursue more positive approaches to children’s digital consumption. Both groups would benefit from learning from each other. Adults can learn from children about technological dexterity, children can benefit from adults’ wisdom to avoid and overcome social problems they may face online and take more advantage of their online participation.

Tendo em conta a forte presença das telas-convergentes e ubíquas-na vida das famílias portuguesas com crianças, o artigo pretende refletir o problem|tico conceito 'tempo de tela' face {s recentes recomendações da Associação Americana de Pediatria. Sendo o 'tempo de tela' uma preocupação frequentemente manifestada pelos pais, enquadramos o tema à luz de pesquisa recente e partimos das suas falas para uma análise temática, com base em entrevistas realizadas com 39 famílias. Os resultados, aqui sintetizados e analisados, revelam que o conceito 'tempo de tela' deve ter em conta os contextos familiares, a idade das crianças e as percepções dos pais. Este artigo pretende contribuir para a reflexão em torno desta problemática, sugerindo aos pais e educadores menor preocupação em contabilizar ao minuto o tempo de tela, mas que avaliem a qualidade desse tempo (conteúdos, tempo e interações) e que, sem alarmismo, se mantenham alertas a sinais de perigo que possam indiciar na criança desequilíbrios ao nível do sono, saúde física e emocional, vida social e escolar, ajustando as suas intervenções em conformidade.

http://www.is1401eln.eu/fotos/editor2/imagens/digitalactivities.pdf

Neste sentido, este livro constitui uma significativa aposta no
desenvolvimento das competências mediáticas em consonância com o que a UNESCO estabelece como linhas orientadoras para a
alfabetização: compreensão, pensamento crítico, criatividade,
consciência intercultural e cidadania. Apresenta-se num sentido muito claro, que permite a formação mediante a prática, através de uma série de atividades que incidem na reflexão, no trabalho com os valores e as atitudes, o aprender a fazer e a conexão entre gerações.
As atividades são destinadas tanto a adultos, como a jovens e a
ambos. Cada capítulo apresenta a mesma estrutura com a indicação dos
recursos necessários para o trabalho, a descrição da proposta de
atividades, a explicação do que se vai aprender, sugestões para a metodologia, a sequência adequada de desenvolvimento e, finalmente, a orientação para uma abordagem intergeracional.
Os autores e as autoras que colaboram neste magnífico material têm uma vasta experiência na alfabetização mediática e, sem dúvida, as suas contribuições serão uma importante mais-valia para o
desenvolvimento das competências necessárias no mundo digital
nesta perspetiva intergeracional.
O livro começa com uma série de propostas para a infância em torno dos riscos, da programação e robótica no pré-escolar e os códigos QR. Para os jovens apresenta-se uma reflexão sobre a identidade mediada entre gerações, as ferramentas para trabalhar na análise de informação e notícias falsas, e as estratégias dos youtubers. Na área dos adultos expõem-se também atividades que visam revelar as estratégias dos youtubers, a trabalhar a passagem de histórias tradicionais para
formatos digitais, sobre a utilização de jogos e de redes sociais num ambiente intergeracional, e a App-Peak. E, finalmente, tentando
potenciar de forma mais eficaz a conexão e a aprendizagem
entre gerações, incluem-se atividades para descobrir e aprender como
detetar notícias falsas, o significado de notícias, as histórias de vida, o WhatsApp, um museu de brinquedos digitais, os influenciadores e os códigos QR para a aprendizagem comunitária.

A produção de conteúdos pró-anorexia on-line é um assunto preocupante que estimula nossa pesquisa exploratória. Não apenas esses conteúdos são criados por jovens, como pelas características da internet - pesquisabilidade, permanência, replicabilidade e audiências (ver BOYD, 2014) - parecem desencadear comportamentos alimentares destrutivos e de autolesão (por exemplo, privação de alimentos, automedicação e abuso de medicamentos, automutilação, compulsões, tentativas de suicídio) em outros meninos e meninas. No entanto, este é um problema complexo que precisamos abordar e entender de um ponto de vista integrado, onde os fatores culturais, sociais e individuais se interconectam e se correlacionam direta ou indiretamente uns com os outros. A fim de reflexionar essa realidade complexa, também temos que considerar as mensagens confusas que as sociedades contemporâneas enviam aos jovens, reforçando padrões de beleza e imagem corporal. Nesse contexto, a pressão dos pares e a influência da mídia desempenham um papel influente, reforçando a percepção e a internalização dessas mensagens falazes. Cercados por imagens de modelos belos, retocados, lindos e irreais ou crianças precocemente sexualizadas, os jovens podem ser encorajados a se envolver em estilos de vida prejudiciais para alcançar esses padrões opressores.
As sociedades modernas e globalizadas identificam a magreza com felicidade, saúde e sucesso social. E no caminho para alcançar essa vida desejável, cheia de amor e alegria, os adolescentes não hesitam em adotar comportamentos alimentares e de imagem arriscados e perigosos que lhes proporcionam a sensação de que, se controlarem o peso, também estarão no controle de sua vida e felicidade. Então, apesar de saberem que a anorexia pode matar, eles a abraçam para um bem maior. Em relação aos adolescentes, TIGGEMANN et al., (2000), apoiados por pesquisas, descobriram que a insatisfação corporal e as pressões sociais e culturais podem desencadear o desejo de ser mais magro e para o alcance desse objetivo muitos se envolvem em dietas e outros comportamentos de perda de peso. E é também sobre isso que meninos e meninas escrevem online.
As crianças usam a Internet para pesquisar e escrever sobre tudo. No entanto, as preocupações podem surgir quando usam a Internet para encontrar e postar informações sobre sua preocupação obsessiva com peso, imagem corporal, dietas, conselhos de como esconder essa perda de peso e rotinas para perder peso mais rápido. Independente do diagnóstico, crianças anoréxicas ou não, se envolvem em um estilo de vida pro-anoréxico que, além dos danos físicos, desencadeiam sérios problemas psiquiátricos causados pelas dietas severas, como a depressão, ansiedade, automutilação, comportamentos suicidas e abuso de remédios.
Assim, para compreender a complexidade do fenómeno e como ele se torna facilmente acessível aos jovens, partimos de alguns pressupostos de contextualização: i) o papel ativo que as crianças podem ter buscando, criando e distribuindo conteúdos do seu interesse; ii) o acesso à internet cada vez mais precoce e autónomo e longe da supervisão dos pais (PONTE et al., 2017); iii) o desvanecimento de tempo da família, uma vez promovido pela mídia antiga, como, por exemplo, o rádio ou a televisão; iv) a largura de banda da Internet permitindo trocar arquivos maiores com mais facilidade, como imagens, vídeo e áudio; v) um acesso mais fácil a atividades mais participativas e criativas por meio de conteúdo gerado pelo usuário.
No seu relatório final do primeiro triénio de trabalho do projeto EU Kids Online, LIVINGSTONE e HADDON (2009) identificam que a exposição a conteúdo potencialmente nocivo é um dos riscos mais comuns que as crianças enfrentam on-line, fenómeno que requer pesquisa profunda e cuidadosa: 21% dos jovens entre os 11 e os 16 anos foram expostos a um ou mais conteúdos potencialmente nocivos, como o ódio (12%), pró-anorexia (10%), automutilação (7%), drogas (7%) e suicídio (5%).
Este estudo exploratório surgiu durante uma revisão de literatura sobre conteúdos arriscados que estão facilmente disponíveis na internet, como é o caso de materiais pro-anorexia.
Depois de este apontamento introdutório ao fenómeno, é feito um breve enquadramento teórico para explicar a importância de estudar o fenómeno. São refletidas as escolhas metodológicas e éticas que norteiam a exploração empírica. Para obter uma melhor compreensão da realidade pro-anoréxica entre os jovens de língua portuguesa, é realizada uma análise interpretativa do corpus empírico desta investigação. Finalmente, o artigo fecha com uma nota de reflexão.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was a crucial moment that changed children’s status in both society and in research. Nevertheless, if on the one hand children’s competence has been recurrently challenged by the dominant discourse of developmental psychology; on the other hand children have demonstrated themselves to be very helpful in helping researchers to understand the complexities enclosed in their contemporary life experiences.The recognition of children as social actors, followed by the upsurge in empirical interest in childhood, raises new ethical discussions, dilemmas and responsibilities for researchers that need further discussion and reflection.In accordance with this, this text gives an overview of key ethic decisions that were carefully considered along a qualitative study: access to children; protecting children’s privacy and confidentiality, managing power in adult-child relationship, building trust, entering children’s space

Exposure to online potentially harmful content is one of the most common risks children are facing, an issue that needs deep and careful research. The production, by children, of online dangerous pro-anorexia contents is a worrying matter that encourages our research. Not only these contents are created by young people, but they also may trigger disruptive eating behaviours and self-harm in other boys and girls. During this exploratory study, we used a qualitative descriptive and interpretative approach to analyse data of eleven Portuguese written blogs (9 female, 2 male teenagers). Based on a passive observation we are led to conclude that these websites are easily accessible encyclopaedias with information about everything that relates to anorexia, that also provide a safe and neutral space where young people can express feelings, find support and establish friendship bonds with like-minded peers. With the Internet, children protection has become an increasingly difficult task for adults. Experience tells us that nothing good comes from impositions, restrictions or prohibitions. We encourage parents, caregivers and educators to explore the Internet with their children and openly talk with them about their interests, and to use movies, publicity and stories they heard about, in order to develop a joint dialogue. In a safe environment, children may feel more confident to open up. Although having studied a small group of blogs, this work offers a research contribution about pro-anorexic dangerous contents produced and disseminated online by Portuguese speaking teenagers and raises awareness about the emerging health impact of these contents. However, in order to fully understand the issues at stake and to get the actual children’s point of view and experiences, further research needs to be done, including the use of data collection tools such as focus groups and interviews.

The Internet imprints a great complexity to new and old risks, as threats become more available in children’s lives. Criminals have greater access to the victims and Internet crimes are favoured by ambiguities in the law.
This chapter presents preliminary data from an on-going doctoral investigation about the upsetting phenomenon of violence perpetrated by, with and among school-aged children using online services and devices.
To better understand the subjectivity, delicacy and complexity of matters and meanings that participants bring to their online experiences, we followed a qualitative approach, based on a structured and interpretive analysis. We have been working with a group of children aged between 6 and 15 years old.
With this research we intend to contribute for a greater understanding and reflection about this complex problem and its impact, in order to increase awareness about how children behave online and in what way it may influence their well-being.

UIDB/05021/2020 UIDP/05021/2020In the current model of deep mediatized society (Couldry & Hepp, 2017), liv- ing and working in an EC is still done in the same way as in pre-digital times, that is, almost without access to digital media and the internet. This limitation has, however, been brought about by a lifting of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (for more details, see “Educational Centres with Digital and Civic Competencies”).publishersversionpublishe

Not much parental mediation research is informed by children’s views. The overall contribution of this chapter is to offer pre-adolescents’ critical reflections, supported by their own voices on this matter. Despite being receptive to adults’ involvement in their digital lives, children request from parents that their digital freedom, privacy, and autonomy are respected. The data discussed here involve selected situations in which to pre-adolescents’ eyes, the parental intervention can be a source of tension to the child–parent interactions. Participatory strategies were privileged to generate in-depth narrative data. The fieldwork involved 41 (33 girls and 8 boys) pre-adolescent children (mostly aged 10–12 years), mainly from low and medium socioeconomic status. The chapter builds on everyday situations in a stage of their young lives when they start using digital devices for personal and interactive purposes with more autonomy. Approaching the data using thematic and narrative analysis methodologies enabled to identify three central themes: parents’ digital anxieties, media moulds parents’ perceptions and children’s response to parental mediation. As children’s talks show, much of parents’ interventions are influenced by moral panics and anxiety discourses inflamed by the media. The narratives confirm the role media plays and how it impacts the way parents form risk perceptions and react to children’s digital activity. In line with this, parents’ policing approaches tend to arise in response to fears amplified by the media, but also as a response to social expectations on good parenting. The chapter concludes with the paradoxical claim that overprotection challenges children’s own protection, and more social problems may arise from this mismatch between children’s interests and parents’ expectations. Children’s arguments not only inform us of their perspectives, but they also instigate us to support that parental mediation should pursue more positive approaches to children’s digital consumption. Both groups would benefit from learning from each other. Adults can learn from children about technological dexterity, children can benefit from adults’ wisdom to avoid and overcome social problems they may face online and take more advantage of their online participation.

A dystopian scenario dated 1909: the air on Earth becomes lethal. A mother and her son live apart and isolated. They see each other and communicate through a “Machine”. 2019: the world faces the emergence of a real and highly contagious disease that spreads through air. And throughout 2020, families around the world experience a similar reality, as lockdowns accelerate the mediatization of their lives. This commentary focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on my Families iTec research, which is an ongoing longitudinal study with 18 families with children aged 0–8, living in Portugal (n = 16) and England (n = 2). These families are diverse in terms of family structure, composition, children’s ages, nationality (an effect of globalization), socio-economic status, and patterns of digital media use (Castro & Ponte, forthcoming). The goal of the study is to reach a holistic understanding of how the ecological environment of families lives – that is, the interconnections between settings and events (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) – influence their digital media use and mediation over time. We take a qualitative approach, using ethnographic and participatory strategies. When the realities of the pandemic and lockdowns made it impossible for me to continue to physically visit the families for data collection, I embraced the shift to the digital. Video chatting and phone calls have been paramount to keep closely in touch with them and to continue an investigation that has become increasingly necessary, as family school and work routines, entertainment and emotional ties became massively entangled, mediated and moulded by the internet thorough the pandemic. Parents responded positively to the digitally supported interactions that allowed us to continue this research. They have been sort of field collaborators – sharing videos, pictures, and occurrences of their children’s “new normal”. Nevertheless, parents’ goodwill in this collaboration has seemed to fade over time. After the initial enchantment of seeing the lockdown as an opportunity for enjoying family quality time, parents have become more preoccupied with the confluent crises that threaten their health, wellbeing, finances, emotions, and social ties. In some families, those concerns are heightened further still by social inequalities that have become more visible and challenging in 2020.

UID/SOC/04647/2013As crianças portuguesas de três-oito anos estão a crescer em lares apetrechados com dispositivos móveis, individualizados, de pequeno porte e ecrãs tácteis, com aplicações diversificadas. Apesar desta ecologia digital, o primeiro inquérito nacional sobre como as crianças estão a crescer entre ecrãs (N= 656), realizado para a Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC), em 2016, contraria pressuposições de um boom tecnológico. Apenas 38% dos pais reportam que as crianças usam a internet e prevalece uma mediação centrada no controlo e na restrição. Este texto apresenta e discute resultados desse inquérito e do estudo qualitativo em 20 famílias cujas crianças acedem a meios digitais, centrando-se nas competências digitais. Estas incluem competências tradicionais (ler, escrever e contar), e outras relacionadas com acesso e uso das tecnologias digitais (Sefton-Green, Marsh, Erstad & Flewitt, 2016).publishersversionpublishe

Os sete capítulos deste livro prestam atenção a diferentes contextos em que se processam os usos digitais por parte de crianças e jovens em Portugal. O primeiro capítulo, Género e experiências digitais. Tensões entre estereótipos e autonomias, de Eduarda Ferreira e Daniel Cardoso, mostra como papéis de género vigentes na sociedade portuguesa podem ajudar a compreender as respostas dos entrevistados. A análise das respostas referentes a ambientes digitais e não-digitais incidiu sobre os usos dos novos meios enquanto parte do seu processo de formação psicossocial, e sobre os modos como comportamentos e instituições impactam (positiva e negativamente) a experiência que crianças e jovens têm em contexto digital. Concluindo que o acesso e maior uso de tecnologias por parte das raparigas não vieram alterar estereótipos de género na utilização das TIC, os autores recomendam a criação de contextos que permitam a crianças e jovens expressarem as suas identidades, transcendendo categorias estereotipadas de género, ampliando o leque de opções disponíveis e abrindo espaços de experiências e de identidades tanto para raparigas como para rapazes. Ambientes familiares e mediações digitais caracteriza o ambiente familiar reportado pelas crianças e jovens, o espaço primordial de mediação social da tecnologia. Cristina Ponte e Susana Batista enquadram a sua análise no estudo Crescendo entre Ecrãs, sobre práticas de mediação reportadas por pais de crianças mais novas (3-8 anos), realizado em 2016 para a Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação. O capítulo analisa como crianças e jovens entre 9 e 17 anos caracterizam o ambiente familiar em que vivem e como reportam as mediações familiares (de pais para filhos e o seu inverso) sobre a internet. Os resultados destacam a diferença entre uma quase unânime referência a ambientes de apoio familiar, por um lado, e uma diversidade na sua socialização digital, por outro. Além da idade, os resultados apontam diferenças de género, com as raparigas a reportarem mais interação entre gerações na socialização digital e maior acompanhamento por parte dos pais. Literacias digitais e contexto escolar incide sobre perceções de competências digitais e sobre a escola como outro espaço privilegiado de mediação social da tecnologia. Como vimos acima, as potencialidades pedagógicas das tecnologias inspiraram desde cedo políticas educativas europeias e nacionais, mesmo em contramão com o discurso do risco social. Sem dúvida que a escola é um lugar central para a aquisição de competências digitais, contrariando desigualdades e favorecendo uma maior equidade social. A partir da contextualização de políticas educativas em Portugal e de uma definição alargada de competências digitais que as associa a direitos de cidadania, Susana Batista e Rita Brito discutem as competências digitais reportadas por crianças e jovens, como variam consoante o tipo de formação que recebem na escola e a perceção que têm as crianças e jovens sobre a mediação dos seus professores. Cidadania e participação online de crianças e jovens em Portugal e no Brasil explora oportunidades de participação cívica e aproveita o facto de crianças e jovens destes dois países terem respondido a questões semelhantes no mesmo ano, nos questionários EU Kids Online (Portugal) e TIC Kids Online (Brasil). Tomando como base as oportunidades que a internet pode trazer para a participação e exercício de cidadania, José Alberto Simões e Fábio Senne

Within the scope of how technology impacts society, three theoretical models—the social shaping of technology (SST), social construction of technology (SCOT), and the actor-network theory (ANT)—are frameworks that help rethink the embeddedness of technology within society, once each is transformed and transformative of the other. More attention will be given to the ANT approach since it solves the technology/society dualisms unresolved by the previous proposals. This is a flexible epistemological possibility that can reach the ambiguity of contemporary life and the remarkable transformations brought by progress that have drastically changed childhood and children's contemporary lives.

When talking about devices with Internet connection, which children use for leisure and communication with their peers, and parental mediation, the literature identifies that, on this subject, children are still scarcely heard. This paper is the result of a doctoral dissertation where we listened to the critical perspectives of Portuguese pre-adolescents from middle and lower-middle income families. We aimed at analyzing two central topics: the influential role of the media in parents’ perceptions, and how pre-adolescents respond to parental mediation.

This qualitative study was guided by two objectives: to understand the personal values and meanings children might use to interpret their technologized lives and, to uncover unintended harmful outcomes that may be (more or less) hidden in children’s everyday digital lives. Recognising children as competent ‘agents in their own right’, a dynamic participatory approach was used to reach the intricacies of the relationships between the participants (a total of 41, mostly girls and aged 10-12) and digital and online technologies in late modernity. Drawing from everyday situations, children’s voices were privileged as the main source of understanding to inform a multi-lens approach drawing perspectives from the sociology of risk, childhood studies, socio-technical studies and Zemiology. The qualitative data generated by participants’ heterogeneous and critical accounts is organized in three key themes: i) digital inequalities, ii) controlling parental control and iii) online participatio...

The 2017 DigiLitEY training event was aimed at postgraduate students and emergent researchers who are interested in understanding children’s digital practices through participatory/qualitative/ethnographic research and hoped to help participants develop further their understanding of how to design/carry out feasible and ethicallygrounded research with young children around their digital literacies, practices and experiences. The Summer School also was an opportunity for the COST Action, particularly in connection to the interests of WG5 (focused on research methods and ethics) to take stock of emergent methodological and ethical concerns among researchers and professionals working with young children and digital technologies. The organization of the summer school in a residential facility allowed for many moments of informal discussion among all participants and we hope was a first step in an emergent network among a heterogeneous group of early career researchers in Europe

Portugal is a country historically marked by in and out (trans)mobility flows of immigrants and emigration. Considering these families’ voices are missing in national research, we aim to explore the “niche” of transnational families. Within the scope of children’s rights in a digital age that gives rise to this volume, we focus on two research questions: (1) how are late modern transnational families incorporating and making sense of communication tools in their everyday parenting chores and family’s interactions; and (2) how are they regulating children’s digital provision and protection.

Este artigo apresenta resultados do primeiro inquérito nacional sobre como crianças (3-8 anos) se relacionam com ecrãs em ambientes familiares, focando-se nas mediações de pais cujos filhos fazem uso da internet. Com base em literatura sobre o tema e em resultados sobre o contexto português, procedeu-se a análises estatísticas de correspondências múltiplas e de clusters que consideraram fatores do lado da criança e do lado dos pais relativamente a mediações ativas e de segurança. Da análise emergiram três tipos de mediadores — implicados, intermitentes e desengajados — cujas características se discutem e se problematizam.

Pro-anorexia is a harmful movement that promotes eating disorders, anti-recovery and anorexia as a lifestyle. This is a growing example of a social phenomenon unique to the Internet age that is unlikely to disappear. Considering i) the public availability of Weblogs that promote pro-anorexia and/or self-inflicted aggression; ii) that children can take an active role in demanding, producing and disseminating harmful content; iii) that the reception of undesirable content is a major concern for parents; in the course of a doctoral research about suffered or self-inflicted online violence involving children, the need arose for an in-depth study of these potentially harmful and risky behaviours. This qualitative content analysis examined Portuguese blogs written by teenagers (boys and girls) between 13 and 19 years old. Through this investigation eleven blogs were intensively followed, and publicly accessible material was studied. A descriptive interpretative content approach was used t...

ABSTRACT Purpose – Family, media and peer pressure seem to influence adolescent development activating the perception and internalisation of thin ideals that may trigger dieting, bingeing and other self-harming disorders. The proliferation of problematic online content consumed and produced by young people, such as in the case of pro-anorexic web sites, seem to worry not only parents but also young people. The aim of this work is to analyse content produced by a group of Portuguese speaking pro-anorexic adolescents in order to better understand how social and cultural pressures may influence their disruptive behaviours and how they seem to cope with them. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative exploratory content analysis examined 11 Portuguese-speaking blogs written by teenagers (boys and girls) between 13 and 19 years old who use these environments to validate their pro-anorexic lifestyle, share body and image issues or search for diets and support from like-minded others. Findings – Blogs content analysis suggest that peer pressure, need for acceptance, and conflicts with parents denote the power of subliminal messages, revealing that, even at very young ages, stereotypical messages may be easily understood and internalised. The authors organised the collected evidence into three categories: common shared content found in the pro-anorexic blogs; celebrities and fashion models that young people worship as thinspiration; how youth deal with parental, peer and social and cultural pressures. Research limitations/implications – Although this is a very small group of blogs, this work offers a research contribution about pro-anorexic dangerous content consumed, produced and disseminated online by Portuguese speaking young people. This exploratory study is a starting point for further research. This is a field the authors intend to explore deeply using more child centred and participative research techniques in order to fully understand the issues at stake and to get the actual young people's point of view and experiences. Originality/value – Provisional findings trigger the authors' concern and scientific interest in learning more about pro-anorexic and other self-harming disruptive online content produced and consumed by young people. With this study they aim to help to raise awareness among parents, caregivers and teachers about problematic eating and self-harming contents as they may affect adolescent development and well-being.

This article aims to bring to reflection the everyday life of Portuguese families with young children entangled in the digital media environment, by considering a past generation of families with similar characteristics. Theoretical framework combines a mediatization lens and perspectives from media and generations studies. The conceptualisation of the family as a “communicative figuration” (Hepp, Hasebrink, 2018) ‒ composed by communicative practices, actors’ constellation and frames of relevance ‒ guide the three research questions: 1) to what extent is the changing media environment related to changes in the roles played by parents, children and other family members? 2) Are digital media affecting communicative practices in relation to family timetables, routines and spaces? 3) How family’s media-related concerns and memories frame those practices? Based on a thematic analysis of 40 interviews with 20 years apart (20 in 1996 and 20 in 2016), the article explores to what extent “doing family” (Morgan, 2011) has changed. Results show that despite 2016 families are immersed in a deeper digitised environment, parents continue considering television as the main trusted screen for children. More schooled and digital savvy parents seem to be attached to a nostalgic perception of childhood that guides their mediation practices through a more cocooning approach, postponing children’s awareness of social realities around them.(undefined

Counting the time or making the time count? The perspective of Portuguese parents on screen time Resumo Tendo em conta a forte presenca das telas - convergentes e ubiquas - na vida das familias portuguesas com criancas, o artigo pretende refletir o problematico conceito ‘tempo de tela’ face as recentes recomendacoes da Associacao Americana de Pediatria. Sendo o ‘tempo de tela’ uma preocupacao frequentemente manifestada pelos pais, enquadramos o tema a luz de pesquisa recente e partimos das suas falas para uma analise tematica, com base em entrevistas realizadas com 39 familias. Os resultados, aqui sintetizados e analisados, revelam que o conceito ‘tempo de tela’ deve ter em conta os contextos familiares, a idade das criancas e as percepcoes dos pais. Este artigo pretende contribuir para a reflexao em torno desta problematica, sugerindo aos pais e educadores menor preocupacao em contabilizar ao minuto o tempo de tela, mas que avaliem a qualidade desse tempo (conteudos, tempo e intera...

In this article, we aim to discuss digital rights and media literacy in the context of socio-digital inequalities experienced by institutionalised youths. In the case of these digitally disconnected youths in detention centres, there is evidence of multiple life-course disadvantages that will resonate throughout their future lives. They see their present and future lives deeply challenged by the fast pace of technological innovation and its social impacts while living in environments that we see as digital deserts. The data we bring to the discussion results from the Portuguese participatory project DiCi-Educa. We worked for three years with institutionalised youth on digital media production and critical thinking regarding digital citizenship, participation, and otherness issues. This article is organised around two research questions: What were youths’ practices regarding media and digital environments before institutionalisation? How did they discuss these digital environments an...

This policy brief is based on an extensive body of research across Europe and elsewhere conducted by leading researchers in the field across more than 30 countries. We have studied the use of digital technologies by children under 8 years old in a variety of settings using an extensive range of research methods.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was a crucial moment that changed children’s status in both society and in research. Nevertheless, if on the one hand children’s competence has been recurrently challenged by the dominant discourse of developmental psychology; on the other hand children have demonstrated themselves to be very helpful in helping researchers to understand the complexities enclosed in their contemporary life experiences.The recognition of children as social actors, followed by the upsurge in empirical interest in childhood, raises new ethical discussions, dilemmas and responsibilities for researchers that need further discussion and reflection.In accordance with this, this text gives an overview of key ethic decisions that were carefully considered along a qualitative study: access to children; protecting children’s privacy and confidentiality, managing power in adult-child relationship, building trust, entering children’s space

ABSTRACT Pro-anorexia is a social and harmful movement on the Web. These Websites are popular among youth who wish to be thinner, because they represent neutral and free judgemental spaces, where one can find support, express their feelings and thoughts around the disturbing anorexic lifestyle. Considering this, during the literature review concerning risky and easily available contents on the Internet, the need arose for an in depth study of pro-anorexia websites, once they appeal to extremely dangerous behaviours and beauty standards that can endanger children's 1 well-being. This qualitative exploratory content analysis examined Portuguese speaking blogs written by adolescents (boys and girls) between 13 and 19 years old, who use the Web in order to meet like-minded peers, with whom they share diets, tips, tricks, thinspiration material, and dangerous and harmful information about fasting, drugs, self-harm or suicide. The pro-anorexia Weblogs work as a stimulus for starvation and weight loss among youth who share pro-anorexic goals. Although data cannot be generalized, evidence suggests that these blogs can have undesired and negative effects in young children because they contribute to: i) the increasing of risky contents on the Web; ii) the encouragement of disruptive eating behaviours; iii) the maintenance of a already existing eating disordered behaviour; iv) children's alienation from offline social ties; v) the growth of these communities among young children. With this article we aim to raise awareness about this problem and its impact among children. Nevertheless, further research is needed and should extend to more Portuguese children and male bloggers.

Pro-anorexia is a social and harmful movement on the Web. These Websites are popular among youth who wish to be thinner, because they represent neutral and free judgemental spaces, where one can find support, express their feelings and thoughts around the disturbing anorexic lifestyle. Considering this, during the literature review concerning risky and easily available contents on the Internet, the need arose for an in depth study of pro-anorexia websites, once they appeal to extremely dangerous behaviours and beauty standards that can endanger children's 1 well-being. This qualitative exploratory content analysis examined Portuguese speaking blogs written by adolescents (boys and girls) between 13 and 19 years old, who use the Web in order to meet like-minded peers, with whom they share diets, tips, tricks, thinspiration material, and dangerous and harmful information about fasting, drugs, self-harm or suicide. The pro-anorexia Weblogs work as a stimulus for starvation and weig...

It is true that from the origins of humanity we are dependent on the technologies, but today that happens more than ever. The mobile phone and the Messenger, two of the most recent and popular information and communication technologies of the contemporary society are an example of that. They fascinate children and, therefore, it is not strange the way they use and manipulate in everyday life these technologies that value writing. While social actors, children assume a pioneer role concerning the technological tendencies of nowadays globalized consumption society. Nevertheless, the way children use these technologies in the management of day-to-day communicational and relational life is still not very well scientifically documented in national studies. There is a new generation where everyday life is subordinated to the new technologies, with its own characteristics of mobility and interactivity and a way of communicating, relating and living, still unknown for us. This quantitative ...

This book builds from narratives collected when doing research with children about their digital daily lives. This collection offers families and schools the opportunity to build different endings for the stories while embracing in positive and productive intergenerational dialogues about the challenges as well the opportunities brought by digital world.

The easy access to pornographic content offered by search engines to anyone, including young children, is one the main concerns of parents nowadays. Teresa Sofia Castro, post-doctoral researcher in Educational Technology at the New University of Lisbon, Portugal, recounts her research interviews with children on the topic, and suggests some guidelines for parents.

https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/web/portal/practice/awareness/detail?articleId=3510125