Examining 0-6 Year Olds’ Use of Technological Devices from Parents’ Points of View*

Technological tools are widely used in every area of daily life, such as entertainment, communication, housework, personal care, health, and transportation. Today’s needs make technology a necessity instead of a preference. Children often meet technological devices such as televisions, mobile phones, tablets, and computers in their daily lives, and these devices shape their communication, entertainment, and learning structures. For this reason, 0-6 year olds use of technological devices has been examined in this study using quantitative and qualitative research methods as a mixed-model type. The study was conducted using the snowball sampling method. The sample consists of 100 parents for the qualitative dimension and 181 parents for the quantitative dimension. The study’s sampling group consists of 281 parents in total. The study examines the choice of technological device; reasons for using technological devices; status of playing digital games, inside games, and outside games; and opinions about digital games’ differences using the qualitative method. The quantitative method has been used to examine parents’ descriptions of children who use technological devices and what demographic variables these children have. The reasons for preferring a certain technological device have been described using qualitative and quantitative methods and analyzed in terms of certain demographic variables. As a result of the research and according to parents’ perspectives, 44.8% of children aged 0-6 years have used mobile phones; 43.1%, tablets, 21.0%, computers; and 70.2% watch television. In addition, these children use technological devices mostly for watching animated films and playing games.

To cite this article: Aral, N., & Doğan Keskin, A. (2018). Examining 0-6 year olds’ use of technological devices from parents’ points of view. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addiction, 5, 177–208. http://dx.doi.org/10.15805/addicta.2018.5.2.0054