Digital Parentship Practices of Instructional Technology Faculty Members: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to understand the digital parentship practices of faculty members with an Instructional Technology (IT) major within a qualitative approach. The participants of the study comprised of 13 faculty members from the IT field of any university in Turkey and who has one or more children aged 0-6 years old. The IT academician, in their role as mother or father, participated in the interview process. As digital literates, the participants of the study possess knowledge and expertise in the potential opportunities that technology offer, and also the possible risks that they pose to children. The findings showed that the majority of the participants do not hesitate to allow their children to use screen technology from an early age (from as young as 6 months old) in order to free up time for themselves or to attend to their work. This implies that the participants utilize technology in order to facilitate the role of parenting, even though they may appreciate it is seen as inappropriate. However, the academician parents who took part in this study applied more restrictive mediation so as to limit their children’s exposure to technology due to their very young age and owing to the children’s inability at that age to understand the potential risks. The findings of the study provided information so as to help understand the digital parentship practices of parents from the technology field, and to make suggestions about parenting strategies for younger children