The literature on infant and toddler screen time has been built on two traditions—cognitive models of learning and sociocultural models of learning. Cognitive studies have cautioned against the use of screen time for young children because clinical research has not shown children can learn as effectively from screens as they do from human interaction and might delay children’s cognitive development. Conversely, qualitative research has described the social ways children learn and use digital technology through social interactions with other people in their homes. This paper reports on an autoethnographic study of how digital tools were embedded in the everyday ways of life in my home during my son’s first 18 months of life. I present a first-hand account of the tensions I experienced as I grappled with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation of no, ‘digital media use (except video-chatting) in children younger than 18–24 months’ (p. 3). I juxtapose screen time recommendations with the everyday realities of my life as a first-time mother in the 21st century. Throughout the study, I was enmeshed in two roles—researcher and mother—and drew on phenomenology to describe my infant son and my lived experiences using digital technology in our home. My researcher persona was influenced by the traditions and perspectives of sociocultural theories and new literacy studies and the positive learning that can occur while using digital technology. I noted how digital tools were ingrained in daily moments and ways of life, particularly those which used the TV and smartphones, and could not be removed. Yet, my mother persona felt guilty about our use of digital technology and I struggled with the messages I received from news and social media that warned against screen time for infants and toddlers.

We know many children are using digital tools, such as mobile phones and tablets. Much has been debated about the appropriateness of these tools in the lives of young children (e.g

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PurposeThis paper describes the unintended and unanticipated ways an iPhone as a data collection tool created distractions during observations of five-year-old twins' digital literacy practices while in their home.Design/methodology/approachSituated in sociocultural theories of learning and development and new literacy studies, the 12-month-long case study examined young children's digital literacy practices in their homes before and during their transition into kindergarten. The article focuses on the data collection of five-year-old twins in their home with their parents, a family the author called the Skywalkers. Data sources included semistructured interviews, participant observations and informal conversations.FindingsThe mother was a low-technology user and preferred her children to engage in nondigital activities. The children were permitted 10 min every other day of “digital time.” The iPhone as a data collection tool provided them with digital access they would otherwise not have. The mother knew the focus of the study was digital engagement and that the iPhone was used for data collection (i.e. photographs and videos). Although the iPhone was intended to be used in establishing rapport and taking photographs, the children frequently asked to video record their play and therefore the iPhone became a distraction.Originality/valueGiven the prevalence of smartphones in Western society, the recruitment of a family with such low-technology use was unforeseen. As digital data collection increases in qualitative research, researchers should not assume that a smartphone is always appropriate for gathering photographic data. This is particularly important when investigating digital literacy practices of families in their homes.

This paper reports on an analysis of 60 print and online articles collected in a metropolitan area in Canada that describe children’s digital engagement through a focus on ‘early literacy’ or ‘digital literacy’. Findings reveal mixed messages about children’s use of digital technology that create competing frames for adults supporting (or not) young children’s digital literacy practices. Digital technology was often characterized as something to limit/control, except in school, where digital literacy was characterized as holding a proper place when controlled by educators. Consistent across media messaging was the promotion of traditional, print-based texts as an essential early literacy practice.

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Literacy Playshop: New literacies, popular media, and play in the early childhood classroom, by Karen Wohlwend, offers early childhood educators and early primary teachers a snapshot of how writing and play workshops could be altered to incorporate popular culture and digital media. The book is well organized and presents a clear rationale for incorporating popular culture in children's play. The book also identifies how the researchers and classroom teachers incorporated theories into practice in three preschool and kindergarten-grade 1 classrooms over one school year. The book is based on a research study conducted by Wohlwend and her research team, but the book is written as a guide for early childhood educators or primary teachers on how to implement a Literacy Playshop in their own classrooms. Curriculum models and activity examples are based on observations and/or interviews conducted during the study. Wohlwend embraces the use of licensed popular media franchises, what she terms 'transmedia', in classroom play centres because, she argues, these toys can level the literacy play field by giving children 'access to their cultural expertise and time to play the stories they know best' (p. 2). In addition, this inclusion signals to children that their home interests are valued by their teachers and classrooms. Wohlwend argues for literacy 'playshops' as an expansion of reading and writing workshops in an effort for teachers to begin thinking beyond 'print intensive literacy skills tasks' (p. 3) to 'play enriched new literacies curricula' (p. 3). Through careful 'kidwatching' teachers can choose to have a 'writing workshop and literacy playshop' (p. 9, emphasis in original) rather than one or the other. The book is separated into six parts: a preface, four chapters and a section outlining each component of a Literacy Playshop. In choosing to focus on play and filmmaking as 'collaborative literacies', Wohlwend provides examples of how children built on their literacy skills during play while also engaging with

To complicate the notion of a digital divide along economic and cultural lines, this paper describes techno-literacy practices within the homes of children from diverse backgrounds. Data were drawn from two ethnographic case studies examining the home literacy practices of pre-school aged children. Participants were three Karen refugee families and two English-speaking, middle-class families. The findings suggest that children initiate interactions with digital tools within the cultural and economic landscapes of the home. In so doing, they develop operational competencies to access digital texts in order to scaffold their current learning and enable their participation in 21 st century society.