A presentation by PhD. Kadri Ugur in My Media Playground seminar 14th February 2013 in Tampere Finland

1. Adults on the playground:
chaperons, playmates, drama
directors?
Kadri Ugur
University of Tartu

2. Background
• New media has influence on many
forms of human activities
– Mutual communication
– Dealing with information
– Entertainment and fun
• Different people “adopt” new
media possibilities with different
speed
– There are some generation gaps

3. General observations
• Children adopt new technologies
seemingly easily
• Adults seem to be more intimidated
by new technology
• Childrens’ safety online is politically
big issue and provides good
material for all kinds of adult media

4. Types of play
• Caillois 1961
– Agon – competition
– Alea – chance
– Mimicry – role playing
– Ilinx - vertigo
• Corsaro 1998:
– Spontaneous fantasy play
– Socio-dramatic role play
– Games with rules
– Games of socialization

5. Internet as playground
• Children and teenagers use Internet
often as playground for different role-
playing.
– Exploring feedback for different actions
– Using different masks
– Learning about their own sexuality
• The condition of ”seemless fun” is to
understand rules and codes
– What is true and creative self expression,
what is rather playful

6. Parental mediation
• Parents/adults have responsibility as mediators
of social rules, e.g. How to be safe on the
internet
• Livingston & Haddon, 2011:
– Yet parents face some dilemmas. Should they be
more restrictive or more enabling? Do they
understand the internet well enough to guide their
child? Should they treat the internet like television or
other media, or is it different? What are the technical
options available to them?
• Kalmus & von Feilitzen & Siibak, 2012
– mediation by peers (and parents and teachers) is
triggered after a child had a negative online
experience.

7. Parenting in Estonia
• Transiton society
– Emergence of new media happened simultaneously
with major changes in the society
• Historical background of cultural interruptions
– In 20th century Estonia had to adopt several
ideological and cultural interruptions of continuity
– In many cases adults felt that kids safety is more
protected if they are not aware of parents’ values and
memories
– Soviet ideology idealized youth
– Tiger Leap program in 1990s supported the idea that
children are “naturals” in the internet
• How to be an adult in the Internet?

8. Adults on the playground
• Chaperon
– An older person accompanying youg girls in public
places
– Mediator of social norms; protector and guard
• Drama director
– Critical but supportive follower of actio who can
interrupt
– Protects and supports “protagonists’” own agenda
– Takes a distance when protagonist feels able to carry
on
• Playmate
– Equal partner on the playground who follows same
rules
– Only bigger…

9. Kids’ view on adults’ roles
• Siibak & Ugur 2009 and follow-up
research
– Adults as playmates are creepy and ... Just
creepy
– Adults acting out their fears feel helpless
and untrustworthy
– Adults who just leave children alone are
sometimes disappointing (why did she
abandone me?)
– Adults who try to rule online playgrounds
seem sometimes silly. They don’t
understand.

10. How to...?
• Finding an adequate parenting style is
challenge
– Lack of knowledge about what is happening
in playgrounds, what are the risks, what is
right
– Emotional distress of feeling not secure
enough as a parent/teacher/adult
– Fear of loosing contact, being too restrictive
or too trusting
– Feeling old and out-of-date
• How to be normal adult in 21st
century?

11. Non-judgemental conversation
• Verbalizing observations
– You laughed today at something on Facebook.
• Expressing own interpretations
– You seemed a little quiet to me.
• Asking open questions
– What kind of feedback did you get?
• Reflecting partner’s words
– So you say you are willing to meet this guy from FB.
• Avoiding arguments
– In your opinion this photo is not too revealing. In that
point I disagree.
• Not making too much fuzz

12. Comparing styles
Judgemental Non-judgemental
What are you laughing at? Who You laughed today at something
are you talking to? on Facebook.
What happened? Who made You seemed a little quiet to me.
you sad?
Have you got any more nasty What kind of feedback did you
feedback? get?
You can not meet this guy – he So you say you are willing to
can be some kind of pervo. meet this guy from FB
I do not let you to put this photo In your opinion this photo is not
online! too revealing. In that point I
disagree.

13. Discussion
• Childrens’ safety online is unseparable from
their welfare “in real life”
– New media is very real life for young people
• Children need adults act like adults and keep
being responsible grown-ups
– Young tigers still need mamas
• Parenting and teaching styles need concious
work from adults
– Being aware of gaps of information and personal
fears
• Cultural differences in global village
– Idea for further research

14. Sources
• Caillois, R. (2001) Man, Play and Games. (Meyer Barash, Trans).
Urbana, Chicago; University of Illinois Press
• Corsaro, W.A. (1997). The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Pine Forge Press
• Garmendia, M., Gartaonandia, C., Martínez, G., & Casado, M. Á.
(2012). The effectiveness of parental mediation. In S. Livingstone, &
L. Haddon (Eds.), Children, risk and safety on the internet. Bristol:
The Policy Press.
• Kalmus, V., von Feilitzen, C., & Siibak, A. (2012). Effectiveness of
teachers' and peer's mediation in supporting opportunities and
reducing risks online. In S. Livingstone, & L. G. Haddon, Children,
risk and safety on the internet: Research and policy challenges in
comparative perspective (pp. 245-256). Bristol: The Polici Press.

15. • Livingstone, S., & Haddon, L. (2011). www2.lse.ac.uk . Retrieved
2013, 3-February from www2.lse.ac.uk:
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EUKidsII%20(20
• Moreno, J.L. – oral and written heritage
• Siibak, A., Ugur, K. (2009). Is social netwoeking the new “online
playground” for young children? A study of Rate profile in Estonia”.
Berson, I. & Berson, M. (Eds.) High-tech Tots: Childhood in a Digital
World (pp 125-152). Information Age Publishing