Level Up! Refreshing Parental Mediation Theory for Our Digital Media Landscape

This article argues that parental mediation theory is rooted in television studies and must be refined to accommodate the fast-changing media landscape that is populated by complex and intensively used media forms such as video games, social media, and mobile apps. Through a study of parental mediation of children’s video game play, we identify the limitations of parental mediation theory as applied to current trends in children’s media use and suggest how it can be enhanced. This study seeks to improve parental mediation theory’s descriptive and explanatory strength by identifying and outlining the specific activities that parents undertake as they impose their media strategies. We explain how restrictive, co-use, and active mediation are constituted by gatekeeping, discursive, diversionary, and investigative activities.