Managing sharing is caring: Mothers’ Social Media Dilemmas and informal reflective practices on the governance of children’s digital footprints

“Sharenting” is a usual habit for families in the digital age. While media outlets describe parents as inattentive and naïve about it, empirical data shows that many of them face digital dilemmas about this practice. Little is known, though, about the reflective practices parents engage in when trying to tackle these dilemmas. To fill this gap, this study explores how a parenting forum can work as an informal reflective and learning site where parents naturally discuss Social Media Dilemmas (SMDs) associated with sharenting. The contribution reports on findings from a thematic analysis of 1,626 posts from 47 discussion threads, where parents sought their peers’ advice and support to deal with these kinds of predicaments, lookingat how these naturally occurring conversations can help parents learn about and make sense of the new challenges posed by the evolving communication ecology in terms of governing their children’s digital footprints

Social networking sites as virtual ‘showcases’

A survey of Italian mothers who engage in ‘sharenting’ suggests they are motivated by both a desire for external validation, as well as more communitarian goals such as sharing moments with distant relatives and seeking support. But while many mothers see it as their right to engage in sharenting, what implications does this have for children’s rights and privacy? Davide Cino is a PhD student studying education in contemporary society at the University of Milano-Bicocca and a visiting pre-doctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. He researches children’s social media presence and online privacy. Silvia Demozzi, PhD, is a researcher in education at the University of Bologna. Her work focuses on child adultisation and sexualisation, sharenting and children’s rights

Sergio Mattarella’s re-election as Italian President: a turning point for Italy’s populist parties?

On 29 January, Sergio Mattarella was re-elected as Italian President. Marina Cino Pagliarello and Davide Tedesco write that Mattarella’s re-election could act as a catalyst for Italy’s two largest populist parties – the League and the Five Star Movement – to pursue a more moderate course

“My kid, my rule”: Governing children’s digital footprints as a source of dialectical tensions between mothers and daughters-in-law

This paper reports on findings from an exploratory study on social media dilemmas (SMDs) mothers experience about their children’s social media presence when their mothers-in-law share about their offspring online, violating their boundaries expectations. The work is theoretically informed by systems theory and communication privacy management theory. A parenting forum was researched to investigate how mothers themselves frame these dilemmatic situations through a thematic analysis of a sample of 1224 posts from 38 discussion threads focusing on these issues. This work shows the disorienting nature of SMDs leading mothers to seek support through online communication. Findings from this study further suggest that sharing about minors on social media can cause dialectical tensions between interacting systems (i. e. the nuclear and the extended family), with mothers claiming and expecting first-level agency in managing their children’s digital footprints to foster systemic differentiation in the digital home

What Giorgia Meloni’s policy agenda could mean for Italy and Europe

Following her party’s victory in the Italian general election, Giorgia Meloni is set to lead Italy’s next government. Marina Cino Pagliarello and Davide Tedesco assess what her policy agenda might mean for both Italy and Europe

The “Puer Optionis:” Contemporary childhood adultization, spectacularization, and sexualization

The present paper tries to conceptualize postmodern childhood by suggesting the expression “Puer Optionis” as a way to summarize the condition of contemporary children. Why are our kids always more prone to look for an audience? According to some academics our Zeitgeist evolved and, along with it, the values spread through our kids changed, shifting from comunitarian and altruistic to individualistic and narcissistic (Uhls, Greenfield, 2011). In a “spectacularized” society (Codeluppi, 2007), fame and desire of visibility are shown as goals to be reached during a devolpment phase, childhood, where the construction of a belief system (Bandura A. et al., 1963) can considerably magnify them. Three examples of “showcases” are suggested, regarding children spectacularization process: the city; the stage; social networking sites (SNS), opening a short parenthesis about “Sharenting”. Finally, an evolution of the Imaginary Audience theory by David Elkind (Elkind, 1967) will be assessed: in a world where every aspect of our lives can drop in the spotlight, is this audience still “imaginary”? What are the implications for our kids and the educational challenges we are facing as educators

“That’s the only place where you can get this information today!” An exploratory study on Parenting WhatsApp Groups with a sample of Italian parents

open3noThis paper studies Parenting WhatsApp Groups (PWGs) as interactional loci parents can join to be involved in their children’s academic life, building on the quantitative and qualitative results of an online survey administered to a sample of 302 Italian parents recruited through convenience sampling. First, PWGs are positioned within the broader literature on offline/online parent involvement, parents’ peer interaction via social media, and technological peculiarities of WhatsApp. Second, quantitative results from a binary logistic regression are reported to explore possible predictors of PWG’s membership among our sample, as well as quantitative and qualitative findings investigating parents’ perceptions/opinions of and experience with PWGs. Finally, limitations, future directions, and implications of this study are discussed.openDavide Cino, Alessandra Gigli, Silvia DemozziDavide Cino, Alessandra Gigli, Silvia Demozz

The Social Construction of Fatherhood Online: A Pedagogical Analysis on Contemporary Paternal Narratives

The adoption of digital media within the domestic environment has led to an increasing contribution to scholarship in the field of pedagogy, family, and media studies concerned with the use of digital technology by contemporary parents, as both a tool for self-expression and informal learning, and as a milieu where to question or reinforce narratives about what it means to be a parent. In this paper we focus on the analysis of three different Italian paternal platforms: a website from a dad and professional family mediator, a blog by a father from a heterosexual family, the social media account of two gay fathers. Building on findings from a discourse analysis, we seek to understand the pedagogical and informal learning potential of these different digital milieus and their contents, here intended as cultural objects, with respect to how and in what terms they contribute to the social and discursive construction of fatherhood

“The Kids Hate It, but We Love It!”: Parents’ Reviews of Circle

The contribution aims to present a critical analysis of Circle—a screen time management and parental control device—through the lens of parental mediation, children’s surveillance, and children’s rights to online participation. Circle promises to sell parents peace of mind by allowing them to monitor their children’s online activities. In order to investigate how parents themselves understand Circle, we conducted a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of a sample of 154 parental reviews about the device on Amazon and Searchman by parents of children from early childhood to adolescence, with respect to perceived advantages and disadvantages of the device, parenting styles, and (the absence of) children’s voice and agency. Results suggest an ambivalent relationship between parents and the device. Most reviews adhere to the dominant discourses on ‘screen time,’ framing children’s ‘intimate surveillance’ as a good parenting practice, and emphasize the need for the ‘responsible parents’ to manage their children’s online experiences with the aid of Circle. Others, in turn, criticize the device for failing to enable fine grained monitoring, while few reported the device could dismiss children’s voice and cause conflicts in the households. Overall, findings suggest that parental control devices may promote restrictive mediation styles hindering children’s voice and their exploratory and participatory agency online

The challenges of conducting systematic evidence reviews: a case study of factors shaping children’s digital skills

Systematic evidence reviews draw together findings from multiple studies, helping researchers and decision makers to understand patterns of research and findings across varying contexts and research methodologies. They have become more popular over the last twenty years, with various guides discussing the different ways in which they can be conducted and the issues arising in this process. This case study of a systematic review of the factors shaping children’s digital skills explores the challenges, risks and potential strategies in this process, as those involved in that review reflect upon the various judgements involved in choosing inclusion criteria, filtering and coding studies and synthesising the material collected