Advantages and downsides of children ICT use in Spain: the parent's perspective

Abstract

This paper aims at understanding the expectations of a group of parents, about possibilities and problems Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) present for their children. 'The article consists in a qualitative study, through the in-depth interview technique. Participants were twenty fathers and mothers with children from 9 to 18 years of age, studying at private and state schools of Teruel (Spain). All of them are concerned about the subject, because have been selected after attending several discussions and classes about technologies and students organized by cultural and educational associations. Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) was used, by means of Atlas.ti7 program. The findings show a similar amount of advantages lightly higher than the number of downsides. Parents appreciate ICT mainly as a way of communication and cooperation, in addition to entertainment. Regarding daily downsides, the fundamental ones are related to the deterioration of social and family environment, different levels of addiction -in a broad sense- and the uncertainty they notice to face with possible damages, because of the difficulty to foresee and control. In conclusion, due to the fact that nowadays ICT make impossible a strict monitoring of their potential risks, parents must improve their teaching and training skills to prevent unwanted effects, and empower their children with autonomy and self-control. The best way for it could be precisely the strong communicative components associated with parent-children relationship. The benefit for having interviewed only involved parents is at the same time its major limitation; even though further research will be necessary, these results shed light on one of the most interesting issues related to ICT: the key role of family.