Was everything really better in the past?
In conversations with parents - and in some cases also with experts - I repeatedly sense great reservations about today's media consumption by minors. The mobile phone is too dominant, too much «bullshit» is consumed and it is generally harmful for children's development. I actually agree with some of these reservations. Media literacy and therefore the responsible and critical use of smartphones and all the opportunities they offer are extremely important.
But recently I came across a German study from 1994 that made me think - and a little more critical of the role of parents in this conflict.
We remember: phone calls lasting hours could certainly lead to tension in the family.
In the early 1990s, when many of today's parents were children themselves, television dominated media consumption: according to media researchers Walter Klingler and Karen Schönenberg, of the total 160 minutes that children and young people between the ages of 6 and 13 spent on media consumption on average every day in Germany, almost two thirds were spent on TV and 24 per cent on audio media, with the rest on reading.
Although overall media consumption has increased today, in my opinion it can only be compared with the figures from back then to a limited extent. The telephone, for example, was not recorded as a medium. We remember that phone calls lasting hours could certainly lead to tensions in the family.
Parents spent more time in front of the TV than their children
The parents from back then were also asked how they felt about various activities their children were involved in. Reading books, doing arts and crafts or playing outside were rated positively. At the other end of the scale was watching videos and television. The majority of parents expressed major reservations here. And here's the thing: on average, parents said they spent more time in front of the television than their children.
Interactive learning modules:
Today, parents always have their mobile phones to hand. So we children of the 90s grew up with exactly the same contradictions that our children are confronted with today. That gives me confidence: today's generation of parents is perfectly viable, despite intensive TV consumption in childhood. But it should also remind us that children look to role models for guidance. Not least our use of mobile phones.
