Level up! Refreshing parental mediation theory for our digital media landscape

Author

Hee Jhee JIOW
Sun Sun LIM, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Julian LIN

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

8-2017

Abstract

This article argues that parental mediation theory is rooted in television studies and mustbe refined to accommodate the fast-changing media landscape that is populated by com-plex and intensively used media forms such as video games, social media, and mobile apps.Through a study of parental mediation of children’s video game play, we identify the lim-itations of parental mediation theory as applied to current trends in children’s media useand suggest how it can be enhanced. This study seeks to improve parental mediation the-ory’s descriptive and explanatory strength by identifying and outlining the specific activitiesthat parents undertake as they impose their media strategies. We explain how restrictive,co-use, and active mediation are constituted by gatekeeping, discursive, diversionary, andinvestigative activities.

Keywords

Active Mediation, Coplaying, Parental Mediation, Restrictive Mediation, Video Games

Discipline

Communication Technology and New Media | Graphic Communications

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Communication Theory

Volume

27

Issue

3

First Page

309

Last Page

328

ISSN

1050-3293

Identifier

10.1111/comt.12109

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Citation

JIOW, Hee Jhee; LIM, Sun Sun; and LIN, Julian. Level up! Refreshing parental mediation theory for our digital media landscape. (2017). Communication Theory. 27, (3), 309-328.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/87

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12109