Key takeaways for caregivers
- In the context of digital media, challenges for caregivers include finding developmentally beneficial media for children and using media strategically to give caregivers a break.
- Some helpful demonstrations of a balanced approach to digital parenting are apparent in the popular television series Bluey, which depicts a cartoon family of dogs. The parents navigate supporting the puppies’ digital media use strategically within their broader family culture.
- Caregivers should find the best strategies for managing media use that fit their families’ needs.
- They should choose age-appropriate games and videos with high-quality content that supports the development of important life skills such as collaboration, communication, understanding of content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence (also known as the “6Cs”).
- Technology can be a useful tool that allows adults to take breaks and refresh from parenting stress and supports warm and responsive caregiving.
- When possible, caregivers should encourage activities that reduce children’s screen time, engage children in offline activities, and add tech-free times to the family routine.
Modern concerns about parenting and digital media
In today’s digital age, children and adults are likely spending more time on screens than recommended. Screen media is captivating. Indeed, if given a choice, a child may choose engaging in screen time over going outside to play.
In recent years, several studies have linked excessive or problematic media use with developmental concerns in children, including sleep problems, behavioral problems, symptoms of depression, poorer language development, overweight/obesity, lower school performance, and low self-esteem. Yet it is unclear if these outcomes are related to the amount of screen time or the kinds of media children are using.
How and when can screen time be beneficial for children?
Many academics have questioned the perception that all screen time is bad for children’s development. In her review of Jonathan Haidt’s popular and controversial book The Anxious Generation, Candice Odgers stated that current data do not support a strong connection between the time children spend on screens and mental illness. While excessive screen time can have negative effects, moderate use of digital tools provides children with opportunities to enhance learning.
Educational benefits of screen time
People often overlook these educational benefits by focusing on the possible harms of digital technology, but substantial research illustrates the benefits of digital technology. Digital media can build children’s digital literacy and lead to learning in multiple domains, including spelling and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
In fact, a recent review of media use in children and adolescents found strong positive effects of screen-based interventions on targeted learning goals, such as a game meant to improve children’s numeracy skills. However, these digital tools should extend, not replace, real-world experiences, suggesting that there is a sweet spot between taking advantage of the opportunities of digital learning and avoiding too much time on screens. Therefore, caregivers should develop strategies for making decisions about their children’s media use.
Strategies for navigating the pros and cons of digital media
Research can guide us in identifying techniques caregivers can use to leverage the positive effects of screen media. Adults can use a variety of strategies to make children’s screen time developmentally beneficial.
The 5Cs of media use
Finding the right amount of media use for children is challenging, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends five considerations (the 5Cs of media use) when making decisions about media use: child, content, calm, crowding out, and communication. These considerations result in several strategies for navigating children’s digital world, which researchers have grouped into three types of digital parenting: enhance, resist, and balance.
Joint media engagement
In addition, joint media engagement is a strategy that involves caregivers watching or using the same media together with their child and discussing what is happening on the screen. This strategy plays a role in all three digital parenting types. A family’s full suite of strategies shapes their digital parenting approach.
The first type, embrace, occurs when parents look for content to share with their children to foster their development of digital skills. The second, resist, is the most restrictive, with caregivers relying on rules to limit their children’s access to all or most digital media. The third type, balance, lies between resist and embrace. Parents whose strategies align with balance evaluate media experiences for possible risks and benefits on a case-by-case basis.
Evaluating good vs bad media
A recent Child & Family Blog article provides guidance on finding balance and evaluating “good” versus “bad” media. Here, we dive deeper into such evaluations and the balance type of digital parenting. What might an example of balance look like? BlueyTM, one of the most watched shows in 2024 (with 55.62 billion viewing minutes), offers examples in an entertaining context of a cartoon family of dogs.
The show Bluey is a popular, entertaining program, and the question of what developmental benefits children gain from watching it is beyond the scope of this blog post. Instead, because the characters frequently model digital parenting strategies for viewers, here, we use examples from the show to illustrate approaches to managing children’s digital lives.
How Bluey represents parenting in the digital age
Bluey demonstrates strategies of parenting in the digital age and of harnessing the power of media to support, rather than hinder, children’s development. The show features two canine parents, Chilli and Bandit, and their two daughters, Bluey and Bingo (to whom we will refer as children while recognizing that they are cartoon puppies).
Many episodes illustrate specific strategies for digital parenting and how technology can be used to families’ advantage, while others depict ways to go tech-free when desired. In this blog post, we highlight seven episodes to illustrate examples of the strategies caregivers can use to navigate children’s use of digital media. Some fall under the category of promoting beneficial media use and some fall under the category of ensuring that digital media does not replace or prevent other valuable experiences.
Promoting beneficial media use
Caregivers and children should participate in screen time together
Active mediation is a process in digital parenting that is characterized by parental guidance and collaborative discussions between parents and children about appropriate content. Among the many features of active mediation is monitoring children’s media use, which typically involves co-viewing. Sharing a media experience with a child facilitates conversations while viewing to either support learning or respond to inappropriate onscreen content. A recent study found that Bluey was uniquely suited to encourage caregivers to watch the show with their child when compared to another popular children’s show.
By being aware of children’s onscreen activities, caregivers can intervene when children are exposed to content that might not be beneficial for them.
Because of the proactive nature of active mediation and its focus on ongoing discussions, this strategy has been linked with children’s development of digital literacy. By being aware of children’s onscreen activities, caregivers can intervene when children are exposed to content that might not be beneficial for them.
“FaceyTalk” (S03, E24)
The Bluey episode entitled “FaceyTalk” exemplifies active mediation, which viewers can see when Bluey and Bingo ask to call their cousins for a video chat. Bandit negotiates that the two sisters must share the screen and take turns being in control of the device. During the video chat, Bandit monitors the screen and engages when Bingo and Bluey see their aunt and uncle get into an argument.
Bandit asks the girls to mute the volume so the children will not overhear the argument taking place on screen. Through active mediation, parents can prepare their children for and respond to content that is inappropriate or does not offer any benefits. Caregiver-child conversations sparked by active mediation can focus children’s attention on content that targets important skill development.
Adults should help children use devices as valuable tools
Three Bluey episodes illustrate how digital media can help children develop important life skills, such as collaboration, communication, understanding of content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence (the 6Cs). Educators, psychologists, and business experts agree that these skills are necessary for children’s success as they grow up in the 21st century. In addition, scientists have called for those working in children’s media to create high-quality digital products that feature the 6Cs. Important life skills can be modelled by characters on TV. A recent study showed that nearly half of the Bluey episodes reviewed by researchers contained lessons about overcoming challenges. We similarly found strong examples, including:
“Octopus” (S02, E40)
In the episode called “Octopus,” technology promotes three of the 6Cs: understanding of content, collaboration, and communication. Bluey and her best friend, Chloe, play an imaginary game called Octopus, in which they steal treasure from an octopus (a role played by Bandit). Chloe enjoys the game and wants to recreate it at home with her father. However, Chloe’s dad does not play the game as Bandit does, and she is disappointed.
To cheer her up, Chloe’s dad searches the Internet to learn about octopi and other sea life. He then uses these facts in a Chloe-approved version of the game. While playing, Chloe is not just learning content knowledge about ocean life, but also how to collaborate and communicate with her father. Viewers see how her father used media as a tool to find a way to play the game that met both their needs.
“TV Shop” (S03, E45)
In “TV Shop,” Bluey and her friends collaborate, communicate, and think critically to help Bingo make her way through a store to find their friend, Coco. Bluey’s friends work together to guide Bingo through the store to Coco’s location, which is revealed to them on the store’s network of closed-circuit televisions.
Using screens as their medium, the children identify sections of the store and help Bingo navigate the maze of aisles. They think critically to get Bingo to Coco. This episode is a great example of how children can use technology to work with friends to solve a shared problem.
“Grannies” (S01, E28)
This episode shows how video chat can promote understanding of content, communication, collaboration, and confidence. Bluey and Bingo video chat with their grandmother to settle a dispute about whether or not grannies can do a popular modern dance called flossing.
When they discover that Granny cannot do the dance, Bingo is upset that she was incorrect. Bluey seeks to help her sister and uses video chat to collaborate and communicate with her grandmother to teach her the correct dance moves. While her grandmother struggles to stay in the camera’s view and learn the dance, Granny persists through these challenges to surprise Bingo by flossing.
The episode illustrates that grandparents and grandchildren, especially when separated by geography, can harness the power of screens to connect and learn from each other.
Caregivers can balance active engagement with children with their own needs to take a break
While media can provide benefits to children, it also gives caregivers opportunities to take breaks or get work done. Being an active participant in children’s media use can maximize educational impacts from high-quality media, but not every media experience needs to be supported by caregivers.
Parenting is challenging and requires a great deal of self-regulation. Caregivers can use media as a strategy for their own regulation by letting children watch an episode of a high-quality show like Bluey while the parent takes a moment to recenter or by using media themselves to help them manage an immediate source of stress. Caregivers may find comfort from texting their friends for social support or watching a short, fun video to calm down. While these strategies should be part of a larger toolkit that also includes off-screen regulation (e.g., breathing exercises), these digital strategies can help ensure that caregivers return to their children replenished and responsive.
“Whale Watchers” (S03, E22)
Using media to give caregivers a break is exemplified in “Whale Watchers” when Chilli and Bandit are recovering from a night out. The parents are exhausted and lack the energy to play, but Bingo and Bluey are determined to play with their parents. The girls pretend to embark on a whale-watching excursion.
After reluctantly taking on the role of a whale, Chilli needs a moment to rest and turns on a nature documentary about whales for the girls to watch. This allows her to take a breath and regain her ability to be a warm and loving caregiver.
Ensuring that digital media does not replace or prevent other valuable experiences
Caregivers need to be on the lookout for technoference
While media can help young children and parents connect in daily life, screens can also disrupt real-world experiences. Researchers have studied parent-child relationships through the lens of technoference, or the interference technology can cause during social interactions. Technoference becomes a bigger concern as screens become more integrated into our daily lives.
“Bob Bilby” (S01, E12)
Technoference is best exemplified in the episode “Bob Bilby,” in which Bingo brings a puppet, Bob Bilby, home from pre-kindergarten class and documents Bob’s visit to their home. Early in the episode, Bluey and Bingo are eager to teach Bob about their tablet and share their cartoons with him.
When out shopping, Chilli notices that Bob, Bingo, and Bluey’s attention is captured by cartoons on a television on display at the store. She goes to connect with them, but is also lured in by a program on a nearby television.
During the outing and throughout the day, both parents take pictures of Bob and the girls spending time on screens. When looking at the pictures later, Bingo frets that she has shown Bob the “most boring time.” The visit with her family involved a lot of screen time and very little engagement in other exciting, off screen activities.
Parents should incorporate tech-free time and activities
Bluey illustrates helpful ways to use screen time to support children’s development. But the show also explores children’s near-constant use of technology and the benefits of reducing screen time. Limiting screen time can increase time for physical activity, which promotes children’s health.
Researchers have illustrated that children can become more dependent on outside sources of entertainment, like screen media, when they lose their ability to find activities when they are bored. Overcoming boredom without technology can support the development of children’s self-expression, imagination, problem solving, and creativity.
In the final two examples we discuss, the show demonstrates the value of taking a break from screens when media use no longer adds value to an experience. Our aim is not to create added pressure on caregivers to remove technology but rather to consider the benefits of sometimes replacing screen time with non-digital experiences.
“Bob Bilby” (S01, E12)
After realizing that they had the “most boring time” with Bob Bilby, the family decides to do something different and go tech-free by riding bikes, playing at the park, going to the library, and watching fireworks. After recognizing the role digital media has played in interrupting family interactions and displacing more exciting experiences, the family pivots toward real-world activities.
Bluey also points out that Bob copies what the rest of the family does, just as young children learn from imitating those around them. Parents model media habits for their children, and parents’ media use predicts their children’s media use. That is why it is important for caregivers to set an example with their own media use for times when it is inappropriate to use screens, such as during social interactions or when hosting a guest.
The characters in Bluey saw that screens made them feel bored and decided to strive for a balance between their digital and non-digital worlds. Going tech-free does not have to be something that happens every day, but finding opportunities in the family schedule to unplug can bring families closer together.
“Roadtrip” (S02, E45)
In this episode, the family faces the challenge of losing the children’s tablets during a car trip. Chilli begins creating games to keep Bluey’s mind occupied and provide some fun for the trip. For example, Bluey “walks” her fingers along the windowsill to jump over the cows and trees that they pass. The family talks about how being bored is okay.
Boredom leads Bluey to take a moment to observe the car and discover that if she pulls on a certain tab near her, a little armrest and cup holders appear, which she would not have found if her eyes had been glued to a tablet. The armrest gives her the idea to play restaurant with her sister.
This episode highlights that caregivers can encourage children to take a break from screens, use their imagination, and embrace boredom.
Conclusion
Parenting in a digital age is challenging when new research, new technology, and new guidance emerges daily. Fortunately, caregivers can access many resources when seeking advice on this topic. For instance, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health has compiled a guide for caregivers for managing the benefits and risks of media use and finding the approach to digital parenting that best fits their family. Additionally, Common Sense Media offers parents a guide to movies, shows, books, and games as they navigate digital parenting concerns.
Screens can relieve parenting stress and caregivers should not be shamed for using technology as a regulation tool.
Strategies of digital parenting include choosing content that is best for children, talking with children about what they see on screens, and setting rules that work for caregivers. Parents can encourage their child’s learning and development of important life skills, such as the 6Cs, by supporting the way they consume media.
Supports include co-viewing, choosing high-quality educational games and videos, and using media as a tool to solve a problem. Screens can relieve parenting stress and caregivers should not be shamed for using technology as a regulation tool.
Research evidence used to guide digital parenting can help increase the developmental benefits for children, while acknowledging the challenges of parenting in the digital age. Finally, too much of anything can be detrimental to children’s health, so disconnecting when technology no longer adds value to an experience can prevent some harms of excessive media use.
Families have unique needs and require digital parenting solutions that fit best for them. The family depicted in the TV show Bluey provides just one example of finding balance with a diverse toolkit of digital parenting strategies.