Video gaming and parents’ mediation strategies in a Norwegian context

Abstract

This chapter explores the notion of critical media literacies with a particular focus on video games in relation to the mediation strategies of parents of 10–19 year-olds. The study is related to a broader project that addres-ses this significant phenomenon in the daily lives of children and youth in Norway. It draws on data from focus group interviews with parents from nine countries. The findings show that the parents employ a mixture of restrictive and enabling mediation strategies. Whereas timing and filtering constitute the restrictive strategies, introducing, dialoguing, and co-playing represent the enabling strategies. The discussion of the findings indicates that the parents exercise critical media literacy through representation, language, and audience. Keywords: video games, parents’ mediation, critical media literacy, youth, qualitative