Parents in the Process of Educational Impact in the Area of the Use of New Media by Children and Teenagers in the Family Environment

Abstract

This article is the empirical answer to the question: “In what way does their family environment shape the awareness of youth people in terms of the positive and negative aspects of online participation, and what are the communication-information competences that are necessary to remain safe whilst online?”. The theoretical analyses and research that were carried out (N=238, Poland) on youth people aged between thirteen and eighteen have made it possible to distinguish four different educational styles: neglectful, controlling, controlling-supporting, and partnership. Each is characterized by a variation in the specifics of the child-parent relationship, differing dynamics, the scope of educational influence in the family home, differing understandings of the significance of new mobile and web media, the varying knowledge of parents regarding their children’s e-activity in the context of online safety, and the competences that determine the development of safe forms of e-activity. The gathered data imply that one of the significant factors that protect teenagers from the electronic threats is parents’ knowledge and consequent parenting limits set in accordance with the ways of the new media are used in the family. Simultaneously, we need to point out that there is a further necessity to provide non-formal education among parents, increasing the digital competencies in the area of threats caused by the development of the information society.