‘Television was the only way left to entertain them’ – Changes in the use of ICT and media devices in families of young children during the Covid-19 pandem

Abstract

The coronavirus-19 epidemic that began in 2020 resulted in the complete shutting down of institutions serving children in Hungary in the spring of 2020. Parents worldwide had to take care of their children at home and this very often upended family life. Caring for young children at home and reconciling work was a challenge for families which often led to an increase in children’s use of digital devices. In our study, we examined parents raising children under the age of six (N = 391) for general and pandemic “emergency” views and practices related to their young children’s use of media, using an online questionnaire and convenience sampling. Our results show that the majority of young children in the families surveyed were ICT device users even before 2020, and during the pandemic an increase in screen time in 46% of the children studied was recorded. Regarding the general regulation of digital device use, the research revealed four factors, of which the “permissive, non-regulatory” and “controlling, regulating” factors showed a correlation with epidemic-related changes. The general permissive attitude (which is more common among older and less educated parents and older children) was also associated with an increase in ICT device use among children during the epidemic, while general parental control, even during the crisis, did not allow children to use screens excessively. Our results call for awareness-raising among parents about the excessive use of media by young children.