J Children and Media

Quantifying intimacy: How datafied parenting practices reconfigure intimacy-making in urban China As the ubiquity of data culture increasingly infiltrates various domains of life, it has profoundly reshaped our experiences and perceptions of relationships and the formation of intimacy. This pap...

Quantification becomes associated with responsible and “scientific” parenting but also brings pressure, comparison, and heightened anxiety.

The article introduces the concept of “quantifying intimacy”, showing how care and affection are increasingly mediated through data.

🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1748...

More and more parents use apps to track and quantify their children’s development. These tools are becoming embedded in daily care routines and reshape how intimacy is practiced. Three processes emerge:

1️⃣ Quantified co-parenting
2️⃣ Visualized archived intimacy
3️⃣ A quantified caring culture

Quantifying intimacy: How datafied parenting practices reconfigure intimacy-making in urban China As the ubiquity of data culture increasingly infiltrates various domains of life, it has profoundly reshaped our experiences and perceptions of relationships and the formation of intimacy. This pap...

#OutNow
How do datafied parenting practices reshape intimacy-making in urban China? 📊

In this qualitative study, @hazelwy.bsky.social & Jin Qian interviewed 12 🇨🇳 parents about their use of parenting apps in everyday caregiving.

🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Delaying adolescent smartphone ownership: A qualitative dyadic study with parents and adolescents Smartphones are being acquired at increasingly younger ages in the United States. Although existing research suggests that the age of acquisition is not strongly associated with adolescent outcomes...

For instance, families describe relational and developmental benefits alongside trade-offs, and “readiness” is tied to responsibility and maturity, though parents and adolescents do not always agree.

Full article open access: doi.org/10.1080/1748...

Using a qualitative dyadic design with parents and teens aged 12-14, the study finds that smartphone delay is seen as a form of everyday media resistance within families. They identify perceived relational consequences, criteria families use to assess readiness, and phased introduction strategies.

Delaying adolescent smartphone ownership: A qualitative dyadic study with parents and adolescents Smartphones are being acquired at increasingly younger ages in the United States. Although existing research suggests that the age of acquisition is not strongly associated with adolescent outcomes...

#OutNow
How do parents and children experience and negotiate delaying smartphone access?

Vaterlaus, Carney & Kroemer-Spiess examine 🇺🇸 families who delay smartphone ownership in adolescence, at a time when access is nearly universal and often a developmental milestone.

🔓 doi.org/10.1080/1748...

Volume 20, issue 1 (2026) is out! With theoretically and methodologically diverse studies from 🇮🇩 🇮🇳 🇳🇱 🇧🇪 🇸🇪 🇮🇱 🇳🇿 🇨🇦 and 🇺🇸, two commentaries from @desireeschmuck.bsky.social and Yağmur Gümüşboğa and two book reviews by Djoymi Baker and @devinasarwatay.bsky.social.

🔗 www.tandfonline.com/toc/rchm20/2...

With our wrap-up of last year’s JoCAM research now complete, here is a look at the 10 most-read articles of 2025. They reflect a diverse interest in children’s digital rights, expressive citizenship, well-being, self-presentation & emerging technologies.
www.tandfonline.com/action/showM...

A 🇨🇭 study from @leoroe.bsky.social using latent class analysis identified 4 ICT use types in 7–10-yo: heavy users, moderate entertainment users, educational explorers & non-users. Higher SES linked to limited or learning-oriented use; lower SES to entertainment-heavy use.
doi.org/10.1080/1748...

Adolescents’ intentional and unintentional cyberhate exposure in Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Portugal: The role of perceived discrimination and digital literacy Cyberhate refers to hateful and biased online content that targets people based on their group membership. This study differentiates between intentional and unintentional cyberhate exposure and exa...

From Vol.19(4): A 3-wave study in 6 European countries by @cybermarie.bsky.social et al. shows that perceived discrimination predicts intentional & unintentional cyberhate exposure. Digital literacy dimensions play distinct roles in increasing or reducing exposure.
doi.org/10.1080/1748...

JoCAM Vol.19(4) brings work from the US, Europe, Asia & Africa, covering children’s TV, parental roles, problematic media use, data-generating tech at home, digital disparities, teens’ digital dating, caregiver–child interactions, war news mediation & cyberhate.
www.tandfonline.com/toc/rchm20/1...

A media-based approach to build preschoolers’ playful problem-solving skills in South Africa: An evaluation of Takalani Sesame A critical component of early childhood development, evidence links learning through play with a wide range of child outcomes, including creative problem solving. As such, a small but growing body ...

This article by K. Foulds et al evaluates Takalani Sesame in 🇿🇦 showing that play-based educational media can support children’s problem-solving like strategy use, monitoring progress & positive affect in a low & middle-income context where evidence is limited. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Digital parenting as internet governance: The case of China’s ‘Mum Jury’ Published in Journal of Children and Media (Vol. 19, No. 3, 2025)

In Vol19 n°3 Jian Xu & Xinyu Zhao look at a group of mothers in Beijing who monitor harmful online content and support initiatives against internet addiction. They compare this with Western NGOs and highlight digital parenting as micro-level internet governance.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Best wishes for 2026 from the Journal of Children and Media! Thank you for being part of our community. looking forward to another year of brilliant and insightful research.

Below is an overview of vol19 issue3 with great studies from the US, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Austria & Belgium, a book review of Digital Girlhoods by Nancy Jennings & a commentary on digital parenting as internet governance by Jian Xu & Xinyu Zhao
www.tandfonline.com/toc/rchm20/1...

Reviewed Parents Talking Algorithms by @profranjanadas.bsky.social for @journalcam.bsky.social must-read for all interested in datafication of family life & digital sociology
I highlight the book’s methodological rigour conceptual innovations implications here: doi.org/10.1080/1748...
#CityStGSCC

We are also excited to welcome Alex Bonus as the new editor of @JOCAM_online, and we look forward to his contributions as he takes the journal into its next chapter.

We would like to warmly thank @vikkikatz.bsky.social as she concludes her time as editor of JOCAM. Thank you, Vikki, for your care and commitment to the journal; we are so grateful for your dedication to the community and efforts to make JOCAM more representative of the field's diverse scholarship.

Honored and stoked to be awarded the best dissertation award from the Children, Adolescents, and Media (CAM) division of @icahdq.bsky.social ! 🎉

> Top Reviewer: Allyson Snyder

> Top published paper (first authored by):
Alex J. Bonus

> Senior Scholar: Kathleeen Beullens

> Engaged Research Award: Colleen Russo Johnson

We congratulate this year's CAM Division award winners at #ICA25! Don't miss their sessions showcasing outstanding CAM scholarship:

> Top Student lead Paper (first authored by):
Weiqi Tian

> Top Faculty Papers (first authored by):

Darian Harff

Jane Shawcraft

> Top Dissertation: Luca Carbone

This year, the CAM division is pleased to contribute to #ICA25 with no less than 14 density sessions featuring 84 papers, 1 research escalator session, and 1 poster session.

Join CAM scholars for the Business Meeting today at 4:30 PM (local time), followed by the Division Reception at 6 PM!

We are looking forward to five days of exciting new CAM research, division meetings, and inspiration at #ICA25. See you in Denver! @icahdq.bsky.social

📢 Call for Papers

The journal Psychology of Popular Media is inviting submissions for an upcoming #SpecialIssue on "New Media and Body Image" that may be of particular interest to CAM scholars.

Full details and submission guidelines: www.apa.org/pubs/journal...

Children’s perceptions of scary news in Belgium: Examining parental mediation and consolation strategies from their perspective Negative news items can cause fear reactions in children, which has prompted various parental mediation strategies and recommendations for news makers on how to make the news less scary. However, r...

The first study of my PhD has been published in @journalcam.bsky.social! 🎉 Together with @baldwinvangorp.bsky.social and @michaelopgenhaffen.bsky.social, we studied what factors in news elicit fear in children and how they perceive and experience the mediation of news by adults. Read it here!

The latest issue of the Journal of British Cinema and Television focusing on “UK Broadcasting and Media for Children: Past, Present and Looking to the Future”, features work that may be of interest to JoCAM readers.

More info here: doi.org/10.3366/jbct...

We’re excited to welcome Anaëlle Gonzalez @gonzalezanaelle.bsky.social to the team as our new Social Media Editor!

She’s the talent behind the great content you’ve seen recently, and we’re looking forward to what’s ahead.

Welcome, Anaëlle!

Screenshot of the title and the abstract of the scientific paper which is referenced in the post. Title: Socioeconomic disparities in Swiss children's use of digital technology: A typological approach based on parental reports". Journal: Journal of Children and Media.

🎉 Happy to share my first PhD paper, published in @journalcam.bsky.social!

💡 4 types of Swiss children’s ICT use 🧒📱
💡 Higher-SES: Limited use vs. learning-oriented use as competing strategies
💡 Lower-SES: Parents more critical of ICT, but limited use is still less common

doi.org/10.1080/1748...

The authors found that all relationships varied by media activity and whether they were examined at the within- or between-person level. They also stress the need to examine interactions between gender and other developmental factors, as conditional effects emerged.

How do different digital media activities impact youth's affective well-being, and how does this vary across developmental stages?

Mayen, S., Reinhardt, A., & Wilhelm, C. examined this in an ESM study among Austrian youth 🇦🇹.

🔓 Open access: doi.org/10.1080/1748...