Growing Up in the Digital Wonderland

My husband and I were watching Saturday Night Live on YouTube, while I was bottle-feeding my son, Terry. To our surprise, Terry seemed to be enjoying the show, while having his late dinner, despite being just over a month old. In our household, he is exposed to many digital devices, such as laptop, Nintendo, smart phones, iPad. Everyday my husband and I take hundreds of photos and videos of him, and frequently accompanies me during Zoom meetings and paper-writing. Moreover, Terry sometimes watches my husband playing online video games.

Children born today, like Terry, are digital natives, who are immersed in digital technology throughout their everyday life. As a first-generation bilingual immigrant, I am interested to explore what children who are from new immigrant families are doing at home in connection to their digital practices and how they are engaging with digital media during the time they spend with screen-based devices. Also, because parents’ attitudes and beliefs can affect children’s literacy practices in terms of what devices or practices they may have access to, as well as influencing children’s cultural identities, it is important to examine parents’ perspectives.