1st Edition
Parenting Cyber-Risk Opportunities and Challenges Raising Children with Digital Environments
On the back of their last book, Cyber-risk and Youth, and building on a new research project, Adorjan and Ricciardelli marshal current research to explore parenting in the digital age.
Utilising 70 original interviews from rural and urban area Canadian parents, the book provides an overview of research on ‘digital parenting’ and illuminates the modern parental experience of managing children’s access to internet-connected technologies. The book explores parents’ experiences with cyberbullying and non-consensual sexting, as well as concerns over breaches of privacy, screen time and internet addiction. It also investigates parents’ views regarding effective and ineffective strategies in mediation of technology and cyber-risk, including new directions such as restorative practices intended as a response to online conflict and harm. While framing their discussions amongst sociological theories, Adorjan and Ricciardelli also deliberately emphasise the gendered nature of the book’s discourses and encourage critical reflection of various online surveillance technologies, often marketed to mothers, to keep children safe.
As such, Parenting Cyber-Risk is a standout research monograph which not only offers broad insight into 21st century parenting challenges, but also offers solutions. The book will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying criminology, sociology, and any other related fields.
Contents
1. Introduction
Background and Context
References
2. Existing Research
Introduction
Technoparenting, Addiction and Mental Health
Parental Regulation of Digital Technologies: A Spectrum of Practices
Final Thoughts
References
3. COVID-19 Affects on Technoparenting and Children’s Mental Health and Well-being
Introduction
Rapid Change, Uncertainty, and Impacts on Youth Mental Health and Well-Being
School Lockdowns and Digital Divides
Silver Linings: Promoting Positive Mental Well-Being during Lockdowns
Implications for Technoparenting
Notes
References
4. Research Methodology
Background – Previous Research with Teens and Cyber-Risk
Recent Qualitative Approaches to ‘Cyber’ Parenting
The Sample, Recruitment and Analysis
Grounding Our Data – A Note on Grounded Theory
Ethics and Positionality
References
5. Cyber-Addiction
Introduction
Comparisons with Illicit Drug Use and Withdrawal
Tweens, Teens, and Technology Burnout (For Parents)
The Social Lure of Screen Time
The Cultural Blind Spot: Parental Technology Addictions
Re-Focusing Our Concerns
Notes
References
6. Parenting Mediation of Technology Access and Use
Introduction
First Phones: Navigating Expense, Peer Exclusion and Gaining Independence
Parental Rules, Restrictions and Surveillance
Use of Tracking Technologies
Surveillance and Child Safety and Security
In Sum: Parenting Norms, Big Tech and Surveillance
Notes
References
7. Gendered Cyber-Risks
Navigating Cyber-Risks: The Role of Gender
Personality versus Gender
Boys and Girls: “Equal” Treatment for All?
The Gendered Double Standard
‘Drama’ and Related Emotional and Social Harms among Daughters
Sexting and the Permanence of Online Content
Predators
Body Image
When She’s Older…
Sons and Masculinities
Summing Up: Implications for Parenting
Notes
References
8. School Responses and Restorative Practices
Introduction
Managing Technology in the Classroom
Effective Responses to Online Conflict and Harm
Ineffective Responses to Online Conflict and Harm
Restorative Practices in Response to Online Conflict and Harm
Benefits of Restorative Practices
Difficulties Implementing Restorative Practices
A Calculus of Intervention Worthyness
Notes
References
9. Strategies
Introduction
Effective Strategies: Enacted with Children
Digital Citizenship
Teaching Life Skills about Privacy and Permanency Online
Balance, Boundaries, and Critical Media Awareness Skills
Effective Strategies: Enacted onto Children
Chores and Physical Activities First
Ineffective Strategies
Limiting Screen Time
Other Parents
Tech Removal as Punishment
The Last Resort: Device Distraction
Discussion
Notes
References
10. Conclusion
References
Appendix 1 – Participant Demographics
Appendix 2 – Interview Schedule
Index
Biography
Michael Adorjan is an associate professor at the University of Calgary. His research and teaching centres on youth and cyber-risk, drawing from theoretical areas including dramaturgy and social constructionism, surveillance and privacy. Recent publications examine both educator and parent understandings and responses to cyberbullying and other forms of online mediated conflict and harm, and restorative practices in response to cyber-risk. He also publishes on Hong Kong, especially responses to youth crime and public perceptions of police in Hong Kong, and with Rosemary Ricciardelli, is involved in research examining correctional officers in Canada.
Rosemary Ricciardelli is Professor (PhD) in the School of Maritime Studies and Research Chair in Safety, Security, and Wellness, at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Fisheries and Marine Institute. Elected to the Royal Society of Canada, her research centers on evolving understandings of gender, vulnerabilities, risk, and experiences and issues within different facets of the criminal justice system and among mariners. She has published vastly in the areas of public safety, criminalized persons, and wellness – broadly defined. As a sex and gender researcher, her interests lay in the social health, identity construction, and lived experiences of individuals.
'A welcome addition to the sociological literature on children, risk and online technologies, this book provides an in-depth and nuanced look at parents’ understandings, experiences and strategies as mediated by cultural expectations. It will prove valuable to sociologists of technology, youth and family as well as to parents themselves whose voices have been largely absent from the literature on digital parenting.'
- Glenda Wall, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University
'Adorjan and Ricciardelli bring needed clarity to the growing complexities and contradictions in technoparenting, set within the broader context of an increasingly algorithmic world. Parenting Cyber-Risk actively translates new research and the existing literature into sociologically-grounded guidance for schools and families, while pointing towards the need for future research. Emphasizing a holistic, restorative approach that resists dualistic notions of “online” and “real life,” “victim” and “cyberbully,” the authors work to address the lived risks and experiences of mediated families.'
- Nathan Fisk, Assistant Professor, Cyber-security Education, University of South Florida
