TY - JOUR
T1 - Children’s Experiences and Awareness about Impact of Digital Media on Health
AU - Cernikova, Martina
AU - Smahel, David
AU - Wright, Michelle F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2018/6/3
Y1 - 2018/6/3
N2 - Previous research has focused on the associations between technology use and children’s health, using mainly quantitative designs. This qualitative study describes technology’s impact on physical and mental health from children’s perspectives. The differences between children’s experiences and awareness of the health-related consequences associated with digital media use were examined. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with children between the ages of 9 and 16 in nine European countries (N = 368). Results of this study indicate that children’s experiences of health-related technology impacts are different from their awareness of these impacts. Children’s direct experiences with media were less extreme in contrast to their awareness of health problems, which typically involved extreme examples of possible consequences, such as killing people, kidnapping, blindness, and developing learning or psychological disorders. The results are discussed in the context of the “media panic” and “third person effect” theories.
AB - Previous research has focused on the associations between technology use and children’s health, using mainly quantitative designs. This qualitative study describes technology’s impact on physical and mental health from children’s perspectives. The differences between children’s experiences and awareness of the health-related consequences associated with digital media use were examined. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with children between the ages of 9 and 16 in nine European countries (N = 368). Results of this study indicate that children’s experiences of health-related technology impacts are different from their awareness of these impacts. Children’s direct experiences with media were less extreme in contrast to their awareness of health problems, which typically involved extreme examples of possible consequences, such as killing people, kidnapping, blindness, and developing learning or psychological disorders. The results are discussed in the context of the “media panic” and “third person effect” theories.
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U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2017.1298197
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2017.1298197
M3 - Article
C2 - 28353388
AN - SCOPUS:85016294687
VL - 33
SP - 664
EP - 673
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
SN - 1041-0236
IS - 6
ER -