In total, 1,194 UK parents responded to the survey. Much of the dataset represents families nationally, with 82% of responses collected via a link on the CBeebies website. The rest of the data came from parents or carers filling in questionnaires at nine early years settings in Sheffield. The analysis suggests that most children spend time engaged in non-screen-based activities like playing out (76% an hour or more per day). Watching live television on the TV set was the most important digital activity for preschool children (63% of parents reported that their child spent an hour or more per day). The qualitative case studies support the quantitative finding that digital and non-digital activities play a balanced role in the lives of UK preschoolers. The quantitative data show that Peppa Pig was the most popular TV show at the time of the survey. CBeebies was the most popular favourite TV channel (60%), even in the Sheffield settings sample not recruited through CBeebies avenues (42%). The quantitative data demonstrate that preschool children engage in a broad range of activities whilst watching television, e.g. talking about the programme or film whilst watching it (82%), dancing (76%) or singing (76%). Younger preschoolers were more likely to sing, dance, talk to the characters on screen, act out the story and play with toys while watching, whilst older preschoolers were more likely to write or draw. Female preschoolers were more likely than male prechoolers to sing, dance, write or draw whilst watching. Preschoolers from middle-class families were more likely than preschoolers from working-class families to talk about the programme whilst watching. Preschool children also engaged in a broad range of activities after watching television that are nonetheless related to it, e.g. singing songs from the programme or film (81%), talking about the programme or film (71%) or using catchphrases or dialogue from it (68%). Younger preschoolers were more likely to use catchphrases or dialogue from a programme, role-play a character or play with related toys after watching. Female preschoolers were more likely than male preschoolers to dress up as a character from the programme
or sing song from it after watching. Preschoolers from middle-class families were more likely than preschoolers from working-class families to use catchphrases and dialogue from a show after watching. The quantitative data, then, illustrate how common it is for preschoolers to engage in non-digital activities during and after engaging with TV&RM. The qualitative case studies add more nuanced detail to this. The theory of synthesised practices, discussed in Chapter 6, represents how preschool children amalgamate fragments of media texts with other material and/or immaterial ‘things’ to constitute ‘synthesised texts’. Children do not just engage in other activities related to TV&RM during and after engagement; rather, they create something new. Furthermore, the qualitative data show how parents and other family members are implicated in these activities in different ways. The qualitative case studies suggest that the nature of parental and family engagement in such practices is socially classed, an idea that is discussed in more depth in Chapter 6.
Many parents spend a substantial period watching children’s TV with their child, with 62.7% of respondents reporting spending an hour or more every day. Certain activities were more likely than others to be carried out with an adult. Books were the most likely to be used with an adult (70.3%), although watching a video or DVD was also likely to be done with an adult (49.2%). Using a tablet was the activity most likely to be carried out by a child on their own (16.7%), but many parents said their child would use a tablet with an adult (35.3%) or with occasional help from an adult (22.7%). Watching live TV was likely to be done with an adult (41.1%) or another child (32.4%). Parents of younger preschool children were likely to spend more time watching children’s TV with their child. Manual parents were more likely to spend more time watching children’s TV with their child than professional parents. Some parents spend some time watching non-children’s TV with their child every day (only 18.6% spent an hour or more per day). Parents of older preschool children were more likely to spend time watching non-children’s TV with their child. Clerical or manual parents were likely to spend more time watching non-children’s TV with their child than professional parents. Of those professional parents who did sometimes watch non-children’s TV with their child, Strictly Come Dancing was by far the most popular response. Soaps (Emmerdale and EastEnders) were the most popular choices for clerical and manual families. The quantitative data thus emphasise the social nature of children’s engagement with TV&RM at home - something important that is often omitted in studies about children’s digital engagement, especially with television. The qualitative case studies expand our understanding of this social dimension to media engagement. Firstly, the qualitative data support the finding that preschool children and their families mutually participate in what this thesis terms ‘family media habitus’. Preschoolers and members of their families display significant and interesting shared dispositions in relation to media, such as humorous pleasure in ostensibly scary or ‘odd’ themes and texts. The finding that clerical or manual parents were likely to spend more time watching non- children’s TV with their child than professional parents corresponds with a similar finding in the qualitative case studies. Several of the children of manual parents engaged with media texts not designed for children. As discussed in Chapter 6, however, exposure to such texts may present positive
as well as negative outcomes. As Banaji (2010) points out, the greater exposure of working-class children to a range of media may provide greater opportunity for the development of media criticality. ‘Background’ television is surprisingly prevalent in many households (i.e. parents report that the television might be on a lot of the time whilst no-one is actively watching). A higher proportion than expected of ‘manual’ and ‘clerical’ parents said that the TV was on ‘always’, even if no one was watching (17.4% and 21.9% respectively). Meanwhile, a higher proportion than expected of ‘professional’ parents said that the TV was on ‘never’ on if no-one was watching (8.9%). Whilst some critics condemn ‘background television’ (Kirkorian et al., 2009; Schmidt et al., 2008), the qualitative case studies reveal detail that challenges a straightforward interpretation of what ‘background television’ is. For example, in Archie’s family, Kyle and Caleb frequently have YouTube tutorials of Minecraft playing on their Kindles while they play Minecraft on their X-Boxes. In doing so, they extend their activity beyond single platform explorations, pushing their own levels of competence by engaging with more competent others through the YouTube platform. To garner understanding of parent perceptions and attitudes towards a range of different activities and devices, they were asked to identify what they encourage their child to use the activities or devices for. Books were the most likely to be perceived as for learning (70.5%). The digital device most commonly described as ‘for learning’ was the tablet (40.0%). By contrast, watching live TV was frequently described as ‘for entertainment’ (52.3%). The parent attitude data from the quantitative survey serves as a helpful compliment to the qualitative finding that many parents were unaware of the extent to which their children gained digital competencies by watching and learning from their parents’ own interactions with digital devices.