The Effects of Preschoolers’ Media Usage Habits on Their Daily Life and Sustainability

• Published in: Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education 2019-12, Vol.10 (2), p.112-128
• Main Authors: Akyar, Begum Canaslan, Sapsaglam, Özkan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child Behavior; Child Development; Children; Children & youth; Computer Use; consuming behavior; Developmental Stages; early childhood; Electronic devices; Electronic equipment; Exposure; Family Environment; Females; Foreign Countries; Freehand Drawing; Gender Differences; Girls; Habits; Home environment; Life Style; Males; Mass Media Use; Media; Parents; Preferences; Preschool Children; preschooler; Qualitative research; Recreational Activities; Research Methodology; Research methods; Sustainability; Television Viewing; Video Games
• ISSN: 2255-7547; 1691-6301; 2255-7547
• DOI: 10.2478/dcse-2019-0022

Today’s children are born into a digital world and are exposed to various electronic devices and digital contents both in the home environment and other environments since the first years of life. Children, who are a natural recipient of the environment in which they live, are exposed to the effects of the digital world at different levels and reflect these effects in different ways. The purpose of the reported study is to investigate if preschoolers’ daily media usage habits affects their drawings. This study is planned according to the case study design of qualitative research methods. The study was conducted with 15 preschoolers and their parents. There were nine boys and six girls in the study. The preschoolers’ drawings and their parents’ interview data were analyzed by using the descriptive analyzing method. The study result shows that there are differences between boys and girls media usage habits. Boys spend more time with media tools than girls. Additionally, boys are exposed to more inappropriate content because of their preferences. The analysis of their drawings revealed that boys are more affected than girls from media contents since boys’ drawings include more characters from media than girls. It can thus be suggested that media tools might be harmful when they are used in a developmentally inappropriate way, and excessive media tool usage has negative impact on children. Therefore, the reported study recommends that parents and caregivers take some precautions to limit preschoolers from spending time with media tools and to control content of children’s activity.