We conducted a survey of 222 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade Korean children to examine (a) whether children's Internet use influences declines in family time and family communication and (b) how parental mediation techniques are related to children's online activities. According to the findings, total time using the Internet was related to perceived declines in family time but not related to family communication. The influence of the Internet on family time and family communication differed by the type of children's online activities. The analysis of the relationship between parental mediation techniques and children's online activities indicated that parents' recommendation of useful Web sites and co-using were positively related to frequency of children's educational online activities. However, parental restrictions on time and Web sites did not alter children's actual Internet usage.

The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of parental restrictive mediation and to examine the effects of restrictive mediation on children’s internet use. Data were obtained through a survey of Korean children from fourth to ninth grade, and their parents. According to the findings, the age of a child, parental perception of the negative influence of the internet, parental perception of their child’s low self-control, and parental internet skills were significant predictors of restrictive mediation. Restrictive mediation was significantly associated with reduced online risks and reduced time spent online, and was not associated with addictive use. In particular, the effects of restrictive mediation on online time and online risks were greater for a child with low self-control. This study advances the understanding of the effects, predictors and moderators of restrictive mediation.

This study analyzed the survey data from 566 Korean children between the ages of 10 and 15 to examine the role of Internet literacy and parental mediation in solving the dilemma of children's Internet use. According to the findings, children's online participation was associated with increased exposure to online risks. The association was moderated by Internet skills and parental restrictive mediation; that is, for children with a high level of Internet skills and for children who received more restrictive mediation, the positive association between online participation and online risks weakened, but was still significant. The limited roles of Internet skills and parental restrictive mediation in children's Internet use were discussed in the context of media education.

No abstract

We examined adolescent application usage related to smartphone addiction and also explored mediation strategies used to prevent their addiction. Participants were 3,000 adolescents in grades 7 to 12 who completed an online survey. According to the findings, frequent use of social networking site applications (apps), game apps, and video apps tended to exacerbate adolescents' addiction to smartphones. Mediation strategies negatively related to smartphone addiction were active parental mediation for young adolescent girls, technical restrictions for young adolescent boys, and limited service plans for both these groups. Parental restriction tended to increase the likelihood of smartphone addiction. Addiction prevention programs being implemented in schools did not have any impact in preventing addiction. Overall, our findings suggest that the effects of mediation strategies are weak and these effects are limited to young adolescents.