Because it is #nationalplayday today, and children are out of school for summer holidays, we are discussing strategies for managing screen-time.  This post features an infographic created by Sonia Livingstone and Alicia Blum-Ross, together with the Connected Learning Alliance, which addresses more effective methods for parents than simply 'watching the clock'.  Sonia ...more

How much is too much when it comes to ‘screen time’? Sonia Livingstone and Alicia Blum-Ross round-up the advice that is being given to parents about screen time rules, where reports represent advice on a scale from fear to hype. Rather than measuring screentime purely by the clock, Alicia and Sonia ...more

  Julian Sefton-Green discusses one case from his book Learning Identities, Education and Community: young lives in the cosmopolitan city. This research looked at the way individuals in Norway constructed narratives about themselves and their educational choices. He picks up from his previous post on the DML Central blog, From ‘Connected Learning’ ...more

  In the new edition of one of the key methods texts in childhood research – Research with children: Perspectives and practices, edited by Pia Christensen and Allison James – Sonia Livingstone and Alicia Blum-Ross argue that paying attention to the digital reveals a lot about children’s identities and relationships. The ...more

Sonia Livingstone, together with Julian Sefton-Green, followed a class of London teenagers for a year to find out more about how they are, or in some cases are not, connecting online. In this post, Sonia discusses the diverse patterns of media use and digital engagement that counter the common narrative of screens simply ...more

As part of the European Commission Study on the impact of marketing through social media, online games and mobile applications on children’s behaviour, Sonia Livingstone and her colleagues published an analysis of a survey of 6,400 European parents to see whether they are finding the ‘holy grail’ of managing their children’s internet use. Today ...more

As we approach Christmas, many parents will be buying new digital products of one kind or another for their children. Sonia Livingstone argues that not all will, and not all can afford to. Sonia is Professor of Social Psychology at LSE’s Department of Media and Communications and has more than 25 years of ...more

Sonia Livingstone and Mariya Stoilova share key insights from the Global Kids Online Synthesis Report, produced by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and the LSE. The Global Kids Online project launched today at the Children’s Lives in the Digital Age seminar held at UNICEF Headquarters in New York, and aims to ...more

Alicia Blum-Ross discusses how the newly revised ‘screen time’ recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are actively trying to address the diversity of parents, but the conversation around 'screen time' still lacks counterbalance to the negative messages parents often receive about digital media. She argues that research findings from the Parenting for a ...more

Most children love YouTube, but what do they love about it? Sonia Livingstone unpacks the individual stories behind the shared fascination. Together with Julian Sefton-Green, she followed a class of London teenagers for a year to find out more about how they are, or in some cases are not, connecting online. The book ...more