Bottom-Up Technology Transmission Within Families: Exploring How Youths Influence Their Parents' Digital Media Use With Dyadic Data

Abstract

This study investigated the bottom‐up technology transmission process in a country with varied levels of technology diffusion, such as Chile. It explored to what extent children teach their parents how to use digital media and proposed a typology of factors related to this process. By relying on a mixed‐methods design—which combined interviews with an original survey—and dyadic data, it found that the transmission occurs for all the technologies investigated, although children's influence should not be overstated. This process was more likely to occur among women and people from lower socioeconomic status, and it was also associated with less authoritarian parents and more fluid parent–child interactions.

A Qualitative Inquiry into the Contextualized Parental Mediation Practices of Young Children’s Digital Media Use at Home

“…Instances of two-way interactions between parent and child merit special attention in future work. Our results on participatory learning and the various buddy styles suggest the existence of less hierarchical and less riskavoidance, more opportunity-seeking mediation styles (see also e.g., Clark, 2011b) or even reversed socialization relationships through processes of bottom-up technology transmissions (Correa, 2014). Moreover, this study exemplifies how the precursors of PM that have been extensively reported, like the demographic variables of parent and child (see e.g., Gentile et al, 2012;Mendoza, 2009;Nikken & Jansz, 2006), are to be understood in their dialectical relation to various contextual factors.…”

Family Digital Literacy Practices and Children’s Mobile Phone Use

“…Consistent with a contextualized approach, children may also influence their parent’s media use, with research indicating that the transfer of technological knowledge concerning computers, mobile phones and the internet may not only operate in a top–down fashion (from parent to child) but also in a bottom–up manner: from child to parent (Correa, 2014). Findings indicate that the active sharing of knowledge is influenced strongly by traditional demographic factors such as gender and social class, i.e., women/mothers are more likely to gain knowledge from their children and the influence of child knowledge is greater in families with lower socioeconomic status.…”

“…These dimensions reflect the mediation styles and attitudes and preferences of parents and children and clearly demonstrate how parental practices help define the socio-technological ethos of the home, which in turn influences the use and preferences of the child. Recent evidence indicates that the home technology environment cannot only be shaped by parents, but that children themselves can play an active role in influencing the behaviors of family members by acting as “brokers” in the adoption of digital media in the home environment (Correa, 2014, p. 111). Further research with larger more representative samples is required to clarify the nature and processes that determine not only parental but also child influences within the home.…”

“…Findings indicate that the active sharing of knowledge is influenced strongly by traditional demographic factors such as gender and social class, i.e., women/mothers are more likely to gain knowledge from their children and the influence of child knowledge is greater in families with lower socioeconomic status. Interestingly parenting style also influences the process, with child knowledge less likely to be shared in families where an authoritarian style of parenting is used (Correa, 2014). …”

The influence of child physical activity programs on parent physical activity in a rural community.

“…Consumer behavior and marketing literature clearly demonstrates that children often play the role of change agents within the family structure and influence purchasing behaviors (Jenkins, 1979;Shoham & Dalakas, 2005;Swinyard & Sim, 1987;Wilson & Wood, 2004). Additionally, children are often the first to adopt new technologies within households and influence and instruct their parents in the utilization of these innovations (Belch, Krentler, & Willis-Flurry, 2005;Brown & Venkatesh, 2005;Correa, 2014;Götze, Prange, & Uhrovska, 2009). …”