What's up

The aim of this project is to examine media use and leisure activities in families. Tablets, game consoles, and smartphones have become integral parts of our children’s everyday life entailing various advantages as they can e.g., provide knowledge and entertainment. Yet, research shows that such technologies can also pose threats to individual health and well-being. This study project aims at examining research questions such as: «How much media consumption is acceptable for children? How can families set reasonable limits concerning children’s technology use considering that parents and children have different ideas of media consumption? What are parents’ attitudes concerning media consumption? Which measures can be used to compensate for media consumption (e.g., being physically active)? Does media consumption before bedtime influence children’s well-being the following day?» To answer these questions, children and mothers answered daily diaries for two weeks. Children were between 11 to 14 years old.

Members of staff

Prof. Dr. Theda Radtke (project lead); Dr. Janina Lüscher (University of Zurich); Prof. Urte Scholz (University of Zurich); Konstantin Schenkel (University of Zurich)

Publications

Lüscher, J., & Radtke, T. (2022). The impact of adolescent’s daily electronic media use on sleep: Insights from adolescent’s and their mother’s point of view. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12397

Schenkel, K., Radtke, T., Luszczynska, A., Lüscher, J., Kulis, E., & Scholz, U. (2021). From a mother's point of view: Psycho-social predictors of maternal monitoring strategy and adolescents' electronic media use. Journal of Adolescence, 88, 134–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.02.008