Evolution of Media Environments

The study by Livingstone (2002) was an important piece of empirical work on the issue of young people and the impact of media. Several relevant ideas developed from the book, and some of these influenced the future works of the same author and also informed works of others. This literature review considers the subsequent work that has developed in the same field, that is, the impact of media on children and young people. Arguably, one of the most important areas of discussion in this area has been that on risks and opportunities that are presented in the present period when media environment has undergone rapid change. One of the themes for Livingstone (2002) was that of media environment and its role in the lives of children. The concept of environment was considered to be important because of the ability of media environment in transforming existing leisure options (Livingstone, 2002). Since the book was first written 15 years ago, the concept of media environment has changed exponentially. There is now a recognition of the ‘new media’ and clear lines of distinction are drawn between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ media. The ability of media to percolate into lives of young people is as Livingstone (2002) wrote was easy because existing leisure habits allow a mediation of the appropriation of new media into daily life. The emergence of new media and its impact on the lives of children and young people has been a subject matter for many studies. New media can be defined in terms of technology, where the technology used for the media is more interactive, shows a convergence of telecommunications and computing (d’Haenens, 2013, p. 53). New media also includes the mobile phone and the many added or adjunct applications on the phone that allow access to a variety of media through the phone usage itself. There is a greater and advanced diffusion in the new media environment, and therefore, media and its impact on children will have more relevance to societies with greater exposure to media and democratisation of media. A study on the media environment in the homes of teenagers in 11 European countries found that the Northern European countries are at an advanced stage of diffusion process for internet and computers (d’Haenens, 2013). It has also been reported that parents in some Northern European countries have reported more risk to their children from online behaviour (Livingstone & Bober, 2004).

The privatisation of leisure (and in part, childhood) was one of the central themes in the work (Livingstone, 2002). Privatisation of leisure and the democratisation of the family are related concepts (Livingstone, 2002, pp.166-172). The early focus of media appropriation within the space of the family was communal in nature, as exemplified by the television in the living room (Livingstone, 2007). Over a period of time, media became more portable, cheaper and easy to acquire and therefore, eventually, the personalisation of media became possible and desirable to allow more freedom (Livingstone, 2007). The earlier model of family leisure time revolving around television has changed considerably. Livingstone (2002) was concerned about the “bedroom culture”, where the media had shifted into the bedroom denoting individualisation of leisure, and diversification of tastes and habits. In a more recent work, the author has again considered the individualisation of leisure (Livingstone, 2007). There has been a multiplication of media within the space of the family. Earlier, multiplication of media was seen in the use of television, hi-fi, video-recorder and then the computer and finally the internet, were the many multiplications of media within the space of the same family home. With greater portability at lesser expense, computers moved around the house and came to a point when for the young generation of today individualisation of media is a given (Livingstone, 2007).

Livingstone (2002) wrote about the democratisation of the family, wherein she demonstrated how media appropriation and use was influenced by a democratic model of family relations (Livingstone, 2002; p.166-172). The concept of democratic family in the context of media appropriation has been written about before earlier as well (Giddens, 1991). However, Livingstone (2002) wrote with the media environment background of internet, which was relevant to the time when she was writing. Recent work has also focussed on the issue of democratisation of family relations in the context of appropriation of media and media ownership (Ochs & Kemer-Sadlik, 2013). Recent literature has also suggested that there is a positive correlation between parental mediation and online opportunities. Some studies show that active mediation can also facilitate child learning (Troseth, Russo, & Strouse, 2016). Nevertheless, with the greater diffusion of internet and computers and the access and ownership of media being shared with the children at a younger age, children are also exposed to risks and opportunities that are derived from the usage of media. The exposure of children and young people to risks and opportunities, has become a chief area of interest in this field of study. There are a number of themes that are relevant here and some of the themes are discussed in this literature review as well. It is noteworthy that the author of the original work (Livingstone, 2002) has also expanded on the theme of risks and opportunities in the subsequent work done by her.

Livingstone (2002) considered that the exposure to media also meant that children and young people had certain opportunities that are created through the growth of media influence in their lives. These opportunities were characterised by virtual classroom, global consumer culture and cyber-democracy (Livingstone, 2002; p.1). In a recent work, the opportunities offered by media usage have been described as learning, employment, communication, and participation (Livingstone, et al., 2017). Over the period of time, both the opportunities that are offered by the media as well as the increase of access to media and media ownership has meant that a greater number of young people have access to the opportunities (Livingstone & Bober, 2004). At the same time, exposure to media has meant more exposure to risks for the young people. Therefore, recent research has also focussed on the need for parents to maximize children's online opportunities while at the same time minimize the risks (Livingstone, et al., 2017).

One of the areas of risk that is presented by use of media by children and young people is that of Internet addiction (Dalbudak, et al., 2015). Internet addiction is now treated as a significant psychological problem that needs intervention (Yen, Ko, Yen, Wu, & Yang, 2007). It may be that certain children are more at risk to Internet addiction as compared to others, and therefore the risk assessment for individuals may vary as far as Internet addiction is concerned. For example, research has suggested that those people who have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is a chronic neurobiological and childhood-onset disorder, may be more at risk for Internet addiction (Dalbudak, et al., 2015). Internet addiction has become a serious issue and studies have co-related internet addiction in young people with depression and anxiety (Ko, Yen, Yen, Chen, & Chen, 2012). The risk of Internet addiction can be controlled or mitigated with greater parental mediation, as one study set in Taiwan depicted (Chang, et al., 2015). Another risk that is posed to children exposed to the internet is that of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying incidence has grown and younger children who are exposed to internet and social media at a young age are not only vulnerable to cyber bullying, they also lack the necessary skills to protect themselves against cyberbullying (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). The individualization of media and the bedroom culture has meant that much of this cyber bullying may go unnoted by the parent who is unaware or uninvolved in his child’s online activity (DeHue, Bolman, & Völlink, 2008). Again, research has shown that this kind of risk of cyberbullying can be mitigated through parental mediation and control on online activity (Khurana, Bleakley, Jordan, & Romer, 2015). Therefore, recent research on the risks and opportunities posed by internet for children and young people take into account the co-relations between parental mediation and the mitigation of these risks, making parental mediation an important area of study and research. This area of research was not as prominently highlighted by Livingstone (2002), but her subsequent work in this area has also focused on parental mediation and risk, where the role of digital skills and parental mediation’s effectiveness in mitigating risks is discussed (Livingstone, et al., 2017). Thus, clearly parental negotiation and intervention into the online activity or behaviour of children has been the subject of much literature in this field. Where many studies have found positive co-relations between parental mediation and lessening of risks, one study has suggested that such restrictive controlling by parents has a neutral effect on the children (Leung & Lee, 2012). Nevertheless, the role of parental mediation in online activity or use of media has emerged as a recurrent theme in the literature concerning impact of media on children.

Some of the recent literature has suggested use of more protectionist strategies while allowing children and young people to navigate the media and the opportunities it has to offer (Chassiakos, Radesky, Christakis, Moreno, & Cross, 2016). At the same time, the challenges that such protectionism for internet usage would practically involve for parents are also acknowledged as being greater than what traditional media protectionism would involve. In case of traditional media, exemplified by television, the protectionist strategies would involve active, restrictive, and co-use methods, with restrictive mediation of children's television exposure being more effective in reducing exposure to risk (Valkenburg, Krcmar, Peeters, & Marseille, 1999). With respect to active mediation, the benefits are decreased (Nathanson, 2015), and the same result is seen for co-use (Troseth, Russo, & Strouse, 2016). In case of protectionist strategies being employed for internet, studies have shown that there are a variety of methods being used within the restrictive, active mediation and co-use strategies. Some of the commonly used strategies by parents are active mediation of Internet use, where the parents and child discuss or share the activity; parents also are more involved in active mediation of Internet safety; other strategies used by parents are use of restrictive mediation, technical controls and monitoring of the child's online activities after use (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig, & Ólafsson, 2011). In case of new media, parents’ ability to apply protectionism will also depend on the ability of the parents to keep up with the changing media, which would require a certain level of digital expertise. As newer media requires a greater level of digital skill, it is far more complex for parents to be protectionist with their children’s use of internet and social media, as compared to the restrictive methods used to control or guide access to television. Recent research suggests that the active mediation measures are being employed more by the parents who are younger, more digitally skilled and presumably with younger less skilled children (Nikken & Schols, 2015). On the contrary, parents who are less educated of less skilled digitally, are found to take recourse to restrictive measures and not active mediation, as the latter will require far more digital skill than the parents possess (Garmendia, Garitaonandia, Martinez, & Casado, 2012).

Recent research has also been concerned with the impacts of the protectionism adopted by parents with respect to use of media by their children. Some studies have shown a positive correlation between parental mediation and the decrease of risks such as, internet addiction and cyberbullying (Khurana, Bleakley, Jordan, & Romer, 2015). Restrictive controls by parents may have the positive effect of reducing online risks for their children (Lau & Yuen, 2013). The area of risks involved in the online behaviour of children and young people has gained prominence with the greater awareness about the kinds of risks that are posed to children on the internet. These risks can vary from threats from pedophiles to cyber bullies. In a recent study, Chang (2013) emphasises on the need to study ‘online distrust’, as something that is a separate construct from trust. Based upon the understandings of distrust, the risk of Internet behaviours are categorised as high, low, or none (Chang, 2013).

A common risk oriented behaviour that young children so indulge in the use of the mobile phone for sexual purposes in their everyday relationships (Bond, 2010). In fact, Bond (2010) uses the metaphor of the ‘bike shed’ in her study to explain the “the young people’s use of space – virtual space – afforded by the mobile phone in their developing sexual and romantic relationships, just as ‘behind-the-bike-shed’ facilitated such explorative, albeit often fumbling, adventures into young people’s developing relationships previously” (Bond, 2010, p. 587). Thus, the use of new media may allow the young people access to a more private space for their sexual adventures. The use of mobile phones is also closely interlinked to the constructions of identity for the younger generation (Bond, 2010). The questions of self-identity that are involved for the children in their use of phones, are both public as well as private. Closely intertwined with these ideas of self-identity are the ideas of trust, as young people increasingly bypass the possibilities of risk and allow themselves to trust the recipients of sometimes very private information about themselves, as transmitted through their phones. This leads to situations where at times the private and public boundaries may get blurred, as when private information sent to someone through the phone, gets transmitted to the larger number of people by the recipient. This is a particular risky behaviour that young people indulge in their use of media. Therefore, it can be said that the “The mobile phone increases insecurity and blurs the boundaries between adulthood and childhood, public and private” (Bond, 2010, p. 597). The constructions or perceptions of risk are informed by the socio-cultural conceptions of such risk, which is usually engendered in nature (Bond, 2010). There is also the issue of moral panic, which was earlier considered by Livingstone (2002), in which she related the term to pessimists who lament the end of childhood, innocence, traditional values and authority, individualised and privatised lifestyles due to the promotion of economics of global consumerism that undermines national culture and national media regulation. Bond (2010) also uses the term moral panics to describe the issues of sexuality that young people may relate to the use of phones and technology. Again, the children understand the risks that are involved in the use of the mobile phones and relate many of these risks to sexuality. However, at the same time, mobile phones are contralised in their everyday life and are essential to the construction of their identity. Therefore, children choose to live with the risks presented by the use of mobile phones.

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