engleski

Media education from the perspective of parents of preschool children: challenges and trends in free time media use

Research shows that the world’s children spend more than six hours per day on media use (Leggett, 2013). If consumed in an appropriate fashion, the media can enrich children’s lives, although excessive use of the media from an early age and exposure to violent and other inappropriate content can adversely affect children’s development, thinking, attitudes and behavior. Many research studies have revealed that even before they start school, children spend several thousand hours on media use, during which they are exposed to tens of thousands of instances of violent content and hundreds of thousands of advertisements (Strasburger, 2009, Trend, 2007 ; Story, French, 2004). Precisely for this reason, countries such as Sweden have long ago recognized the importance of introducing media education for children as early as in preschool. A unique characteristic of such education is that it emphasizes the role of parents, whose mediation can significantly affect the program’s effectiveness, although there is a general lack of comprehensive research examining the attitudes of parents about the media education of children. In Croatia, children start to learn about the media only in the first grade of primary school, as part of Croatian language courses. Until then, it is up to the parents to teach their children about media content, a process that should start from the very beginning. However, parents themselves often lack sufficient knowledge about the media and their influence on children. Since many parents believe that the media cannot harm their children and that exposure to cartoons or video games cannot leave a negative impact, many do not even discuss media content with their children. In the following paper, the results of a research study supporting this claim will be presented. The study was conducted in 2013 using the survey method and it included 837 parents of preschool children in the City of Zagreb. The results revealed how much time children and parents spend on media use, parents’ opinions on the quality of content in the Croatian media and the media’s impact on children, as well as how parents feel about media education for children, who should provide it and when it should start.

Media ; media education ; parents ; preschool children

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