Usos, conflictos y certezas. Riesgos, amenazas, oportunidades y retos de las familias españolas en internet

Resumen

The family is a fundamental institution regulating the use of the Internet by children and adolescents. In the family context, the use of the Internet is modeled and adapted to the family dynamics related to the degree of digital literacy of the parents and their attitudes and tactics regarding parental mediation in the use of ICTs. Recent studies have shown that the strategies through which parents seek to regulate Internet use at home can be grouped into the category of enabling mediation, which includes all forms of active mediation of Internet use and online safety, suggesting positive use of technology, and restrictive mediation that conditions online time or limits activities, including the use of parental control software or other filters. In this context, it is important to determine the perceptions of parents regarding ICTs and potential online risks and the opportunities associated with their children’s contact with the Internet and social networks. The current work is based on the results of a survey conducted with 850 parents of Spanish children aged 9 to 17 years who were asked, among other questions, about their online habits, their perception of their own digital skills, and their critical literacy (when faced with, for example, fake news), conflicts generated by the use of the Internet in their families, or the way in which they regulate their children’s access to technology. The fundamental objective of this chapter is to achieve a solid, up-to-date, and comparable portrait of the risks, threats, opportunities, and challenges faced by Spanish families regarding Internet use.