Worldwide changes in the use of media and technology

In the age of globalisation, many Western children spend considerable time interacting with the world via a wide range of devices, watching television, surfing the Internet, and playing

videogames. A number of studies, for example, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (2007), Johnson-Smaragdi, Haenens, Krotz and Hasebrink (1998) and Rideout, Foehr and Roberts (2010), argue that children’s use of media and technology has increased over the past 20 years. For example, Lawrence and Wozniak (1989) interviewed 151 American children, between 6 and 17 years old, and showed that they spent an average of two and half hours every day watching television; the children were often isolated from their parents during this activity.

40

An international study by Johnson-Smaragdi et al. (1998) of 1,000 Finnish children, 1,600 Swedish children, and 1,253 German children, between 6 and 17 years, demonstrated that all the children had a television in their home, with between 81 and 87% of children owning game consoles. Forty-one per cent of German children had a computer, while 52% of Finnish and Swedish children had computers. Sweden had the highest number of individual Internet

connections (25%), while the number was only nine per cent in Finland and Germany. In terms of the time spent by children using modern technology the average was two hours per day watching television, 20–40 minutes watching videos, and 21–40 minutes playing electronic games. Similarly, the American Academy of Paediatrics (2001) found that older children and adolescents spent more than two hours per day watching television.

A study by Vander Voort et al. (1998) of 1,309 British children and 1,355 Dutch children, aged between 7 and 16 years, found that 85% of the Dutch children, but only 48% of British children, used a computer. In contrast, the numbers were very similar for television watching (95% for British children, and 99% for Dutch children). There was more divergence with the use of electronic and computer games (88% for Dutch children, compared to 64% for British children). Not unexpectedly for 1998, most Internet access was limited to schools (19% for British children and 28% for Dutch children). While the studies by Johnson-Smaragdi et al. (1998), Lawrence and Wozniak (1989) and Vander Voort et al. (1998) were published over 15 years ago, the results provide very useful data as the studies utilised large and cross-cultural sample groups, which served to increase their reliability.

More recent studies show the use of media and technology has increased globally in recent times, particularly in terms of the Internet use. For instance, in 2008, 7 to 20 year olds in the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups were surveyed to identify how they spent their vacation time.

41

The results showed 80% of the participants were using the Internet, with 30% spending longer than four hours per day surfing the Internet (International Anglican Family Network, 2008). In their study, Jordan and Robinson (2008) found that American children spend, on average, approximately three hours a day watching television; however, when they have Internet connections in their households, the time increases to five hours daily. Another significant development is that more than two-thirds of these children have a television in their bedroom, and on average there are four television sets per household. Similarly, a large national study by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (2007) involving 751 families (including 1003 children aged 8 to17 years) found that most Australian families have three or more televisions, and three or more mobile phones, while 9 out of 10 families have an Internet

connection. Additionally, 8 to17 year olds spend a daily average of an hour-and-a-quarter online, and approximately two hours watching television, with one in five children having a computer in their bedroom. However, this number of hours was more than doubled in an American study of over 2000 young people, aged 8 to 18 years. These participants spend, on average, more than seven and half hours a day using media and technology. According to Rideout et al. (2010), the hours have increased from 2005 to 2010 by one hour and seventeen minutes.

Use of media and technology, such as the Internet, has increased in both Western and Arabic Gulf countries. These results were confirmed by Al-Harbi (1999), in his study, The Future of the

Internet in Kuwait. From 500 participants, between 13 to 50 years, he found that 24% spent more

than five hours a day using the Internet, while 37% spent three to five hours, and 39% spent less than three hours. Al-Harbi’s (1999) study is however over a decade old, yet similar results were presented more recently by Sari (2008) in his study, The Effects of the Internet Contact on Social

42

people he surveyed use the Internet for more than four hours a day, 38.4% from two to three hours, while 30.6% spent less than two hours.

In Saudi Arabia, a study by the Asbar Centre for Studies, Research and Communication

(ACSRC, 2005) surveyed 2170 Saudis, including children; 56.6% were males and 45.4% were females. The research investigated the patterns and purposes of Internet usage. It found that 15.5% of the participants use the Internet for more than three hours, while 37% spend longer than two hours a day. Both parents and children reported that their use of the Internet would increase in the future. Also, participants aged between 25 and 34 used the Internet more often than those over 45 years of age. In 2010, ACSRC replicated the study and confirmed an increase in time spent using the Internet. For example, some Saudi children were spending 64 hours weekly (or nearly nine hours a day) surfing the Internet. Also, participants aged between 16 and 35 years accounted for 85% of Internet users. This finding means that younger people are

potentially more influenced by the content of the Internet than their older counterparts who spend less time browsing the Internet.

In their study, Ketbkhana and Nori (2007) used data collected from 905 Saudi participants. They found that the time spent using the Internet and watching television channels has increased from 44% in 2000 to 78% in 2007 of the total time the participants spent in their homes. Although Ketbkhana and Nori’s study did not identify the average number of daily hours that participants use technology, they confirmed that a large portion of the participants’ home time is spent on the

Internet or watching television. Another important finding, especially in relation to my own thesis, was that the urban families use the Internet more than rural families.

43

This section has investigated the global change over time in the use of media and technology. It identified an increase from family members, especially children, in the use of technology in both Arab and Western countries. The next section explains the worldwide impact of the increasing use of media and technology on parent-child communication.