A major new contribution to the hot topic of children and the internet from one of the world's leading researchers in this area. It considers children's everyday practices of internet use in relation to the complex socio-cultural conditions of contemporary childhood.
Focusing on soap operas, the book delves into the concept of 'parasocial interaction' where viewers form one-sided relationships with television characters. It examines the dynamics of the 'active viewer' and how television texts influence social psychology. Additionally, the work critiques and explores various theoretical models from social psychology and related fields, providing insights into how audiences engage with and are affected by televised narratives.
In the decades of raising a child, parents encounter unique challenges shaped by unprecedented digital innovation. This book, grounded in extensive research with diverse parents, explores how digital technologies influence personal and political parenting struggles, as parents navigate uncharted territory with little guidance. It highlights the dual pressures of modern parenting, where responsibilities are heightened, and the need to respect children's agency complicates family dynamics. Parents often assert authority and values through digital means—using "screen time," games, and social media as tools for connection and boundary-setting. The authors illustrate how these technologies present both valuable opportunities and new risks. Parents reflect on their childhood experiences while envisioning varied futures for their children, leading to a spectrum of parenting styles that embrace, resist, or balance technology's role. Moving beyond sensational headlines, this book provides a thorough exploration of parenting amid significant social and technological shifts. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research from the United Kingdom, it offers insights and conclusions relevant to parents, policymakers, educators, and researchers worldwide.
Grounded in the accounts people gave them of their lives, and in the analysis of the social conditions from which the accounts emerged, the authors explore the felt reality of present consumer arrangements, the ordinary beliefs about how daily life is and should be, the relations between goods and personal identity, consumption and pleasure, budgeting and control. Distributed by Taylor & Francis. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.