Digital Media and Early Child Development: Theoretical and Empirical Issues

This book analyzes how the use of digital media by young children can affect their development. Children are starting to use digital media at an earlier age and this use is increasing. With the adoption of technology moving so quickly, research in the area also needs to evolve, and new theoretical and methodological approaches are needed. This book aims to contribute to this field of study by presenting new theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches to help advance research; by discussing results of empirical studies carried out with young children and their caregivers; and by proposing possible interventions to help parents and caregivers better oversee their children’s digital media use.

Chapters in this volume are divided into five parts. The first part is dedicated to discussing theoretical and methodological issues involved in the study of digital media use by young children. The second part presents empirical studies that investigate the potential impacts of digital media use in child development. The third part brings together studies analyzing digital media use and early child development during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapters in the fourth part analyze how digital media use affects parenthood. And the fifth and final part presents proposals of educational interventions to help parents and caregivers oversee their young children’s digital media consumption.      

Digital Media and Early Child Development: Theoretical and Empirical Issues will be of interest to different kinds of researchers and practitioners working with child, family and media studies. Researchers in the fields of developmental psychology and media studies will find innovative theoretical and methodological proposals to study how young children interact with digital media. While child and family psychologists, social workers and pediatricians will find useful information to understand when digital media use can cause problems to children and their families.

Giana Bitencourt Frizzo is a full professor in the Department of Psychology and Personality Development and at the Psychology Graduation Program at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. She holds a PhD in psychology from the same institution and a productivity grant from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). She coordinates the Center for Research and Intervention on Families with Infants and Children​ at UFRGS. Her main interests rely on infant and child development and intervention, family relations and screen media use.