Parental mediation strategies in the age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Parental mediation explains the intervention of parents in children's media use with the motive of minimizing risks and maximizing benefits associated with the use. Over the years,parental mediation research has focused on children's use of traditional and digital media suchas television, video games, social media, smartphones, internet, etc. The research shows thatparents use a number of approaches such as active, reștrictive, co-use, active co-use, interaction restrictions, technical restrictions, and monitoring in mediating children's use of these media. The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (Al) has presented a more complex technology consumption experience, especially with the children. It is said to be the single most influential technology on the future of today's children. Children's experience with Al is largely characterized by para-social relationship between them and non-human characters. The para-social relationship is in the form of attachment, character personification, and social realism. This relationship has presented both risks and opportunities more than seen in children's experience with non Al technologies, thereby raising the pertinent question: Are the existing parental mediation approaches still relevant in mediating children's use of Al technologies? This paper, a library research, attempts an answer to this question. It identifies children's experiences with Al technologies, pointing out the opportunities and risks associated with the experiences. It goes on to examine the existing and emerging parental mediation strategies and analyses their relevance in mediating children's use of Al technologies. On this basis, the paper proposes relevant parental mediation strategies for children's use of Al technologies. The proposed strategies include active, restrictive, co-use, participatory learning, active co-use, interaction restrictions, technical mediation, monitoring, balancing mediation, ad hoc mediation, permissive mediation, authoritarian surveillance, non-intrusive inspection, and Al-based tools, as an-extension of technical mediation. It is suggested that future research should test these strategies empirically to ascertain their effectiveness.