Abstract
Background
Digital technologies make family managing more complicated, as parents are worried about their children’s well-being and want to protect them from excessive Internet use.
Objective
The objective of this study was to investigate both youths’ and parents’ views on strategies and rules set at home to regulate and monitor Internet use.
Subjects
Thirty-five adolescents (19 females), aged between 11 and 18 years, and 27 parents (17 mothers) from the French-speaking part of Switzerland participated in different focus groups.
Methods
Using a qualitative approach, results were analyzed using the grounded theory.
Results
Eight different mediation strategies emerged. One relevant finding is that rules regarding problematic content were never mentioned, while rules about screen time and location of use were numerous. This might indicate that parents are more worried about the time spent in front of the screen than about the actual activities their children engage in.
Conclusions
It could be recommended to parents to keep striving for an environment contributing to open discussion and exchange on Internet use, even if their digital literacy is lower than their youngsters’ are.
Acknowledgments
This study was financed by a grant from the Department of Social and Community Medicine of the Lausanne University Hospital.
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