Miðlanotkun spannar sjónvarpsáhorf, tölvuleiki, netnotkun og snjalltækjanotkun. Í ljósi
tækniþróunar er mikilvægt að rannsaka miðlanotkun barna allt niður í nokkurra mánaða
aldur en það hefur ekki verið gert á Íslandi hingað til. Markmið rannsóknarinnar sem hér
er lýst var að gefa yfirlit yfir miðlanotkun barna á Íslandi á aldrinum 0–8 ára og viðhorf
foreldra til notkunarinnar. Hér er um fyrsta yfirlit að ræða. Tekið var lagskipt, handahófskennt
úrtak 2000 barna á þessum aldri af öllu landinu úr Þjóðskrá, netföng fundust hjá
foreldrum 1448 barna (72,4%) og óskað var eftir að þeir svöruðu rafrænum spurningalista
að fyrirmynd Sænsku fjölmiðlanefndarinnar. Gild svör bárust frá foreldrum 860 barna sem
er 59,4% þátttökuhlutfall en vegna affalla í upphafi er ekki hægt að líta svo á að niðurstöður
hafi alhæfingargildi. Niðurstöðurnar gefa þó nokkurt yfirlit, en þær benda til þess að þegar
fimm ára aldri hefur verið náð aukist líkur á að börnin eigi sín eigin tæki til miðlanotkunar,
sérstaklega spjaldtölvur. Hins vegar deila börn oft snjalltækjum með öðrum í fjölskyldunni,
t.a.m. er því svo farið með 62% barna í aldurshópnum 2–4 ára en í þessum aldurshópi
notar 71% spjaldtölvu einhvern tíma. Allra yngstu börnin (0–1 árs) nota netið að nokkru
marki (4% daglega) en um 80% þess aldurshóps nota netið aldrei. Foreldrar eru oft með
börnunum við miðlanotkun en samveran minnkar með hækkandi aldri barnanna. Sjónvarpsáhorf
er algeng miðlanotkun meðal 5–8 ára og reglur foreldra eru rýmri um hana en
aðra notkun. Sumir foreldrar hafa engar reglur um miðlanotkun en mikill meirihluti þeirra
telur að foreldrar beri mesta ábyrgð þegar kemur að því að vernda börn við miðlanotkun.
Niðurstöður eru nokkuð í samræmi við niðurstöður úr rannsóknum Sænsku fjölmiðlanefndarinnar.
Taka má undir niðurstöður fyrri rannsókna um að samvera foreldra og barna
við miðlanotkun sé mikilvæg og draga má þá ályktun að foreldrar viðurkenni mikilvægt
hlutverk sitt þegar kemur að miðlanotkun barna.
The need has grown for research on the media use of the youngest children with the
ever increasing role of internet connected devices in the daily lives of people during
the last years. Smartphones and tablets have become common and the tablets are
preferred by little fingers. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the
media use of 0-to-8-year-olds in Iceland and their parents’ attitudes towards the use
and various aspects of it.
A stratified, random sample of 2000 children in this age span from the whole country
was the basis for the study. E-mail addresses were found for parents of 1448 children
and they were contacted with an introductory letter and a request to fill in a webquestionnaire based on the Swedish Media Council’s questionnaire used since 2010
(Statistics Sweden, 2015). The response rate of those who received the questionnaire
was 59.4%, with 860 valid responses.
The results suggest that the likelihood of ownership of different devices for media
use is higher from the age of 5. This is evident in the case of smartphones and tablets,
as a quarter of 5-8y have their own smartphone and/or a tablet. In the age group 2-4y,
10% have their own tablet but 62% share such a device with others in the family, and
56% of 0-1y share a tablet with others in their family. The tablet is most often used
for listening to music and watching videos and films. In the age group 0-1y, one third
uses the tablet at some point. In the age group 2-4y, this percentage is 71%, and 92%
in the age group 5-8y.
The most popular activity is watching a movie or a TV show, as over 90% of 2-8y do
that at some point, and 62% of 0-1y. Three quarters of the youngest children (0-1y)
never use the internet but 4% in this age group use it daily. A small percentage of the
children are heavy users according to the definition of the Swedish Media Council
of using a medium for three hours or more daily. Two percent of 5-8y play computer
games for three or more hours daily and 2% of 2-4y use the internet for three or more
hours daily.
The children’s parents quite often stay with the children when they use different
media. The parents’ presence seems to decrease with age as parents of 60% of the
children in the youngest age group (0-1y) are present when their children watch TV
shows or films, while the corresponding percentage for 2-4y is 48% and for 5-8y 28%.
Watching TV/films is a popular media use for children 5-8y and parents’ rules on this
are not as strict as for other media use. Some parents have no rules on media use but
a large majority believes that parents are responsible for protecting children regarding
media use.
The results of this study are quite similar to those from Sweden (Swedish Media Council).
The conclusion strengthens results from previous studies on the importance
of parents and children being together using media and that parents seem to accept
their important role regarding their children’s media use.
