Search engines, e-commerce and media websites as well as advertisers often serve content customized to the location of the user. This research project uses snapshots from national Google domains and search queries in different languages to portray attitudes towards mobile technologies. We specifically focus on the debate about children’s screen time, how much and what kinds are helpful or beneficial, and beyond what point it becomes damaging. In our research we aimed at contrasting nationally grounded cultural views of mobile devices in three different countries: France, Germany and the United States. One striking result were the stark differences between screen time recommendations. We also found differences in how screen time is portrayed in the media, and how it is depicted on Wikipedia.

1. In the Webs of Mobile Tech
Stefanie Panke
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
AACE E-Learn 2017, Vancouver (CA)

2. Background: World Wide Webs
• Internet not a deterritorialized technology (Goggin & McLelland,
2017)
• Series of 'Webs’, organized along linguistic and national lines (DMI,
2017).
• Search engines, e-commerce and media sites localize content.
• Local factors continue to structure and shape the Internet cultures of
different nations and language communities’ (Goggin & McLelland,
2017).

3. Domain: Children’s Screen Time
• Debate About Children’s Screen Time: How much? What effects?
• Contrasting nationally grounded cultural views: United States, France,
Germany

4. Screen Time: Polarizing Researchers
https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2017/jan/06/screen-
time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/25/scr
een-based-lifestyle-harms-health-of-children

5. Methodology: Data Sources
• Google Search Results
• “enfants écrans”
• “Screen time children”
• “Bildschirmzeit/ -nutzung Kinder”
• Memes
• “Digitale Demenz”
• “App Gap” / Metrics (e.g. ‘The Starling’)
• “3-6-9-12”
• Media
• New York Times, Times Magazine
• Le Monde, L’Express
• Die Zeit, Spiegel Online, FAZ,
Sueddeutsche Zeitung
• Search Queries on Wikipedia
• Screen time
• Bildschirmzeit
• médias basés sur écran
• Wikipedia Entries
• Internetsucht / --
• Internet Addiction / Mobile over use
• Dependence Internet / Dependence
Au Smartphone

6. Differences - How Much Is Recommended?
• Germany: Maximum of 20-30 minutes for children aged 3 to 6, 45
minutes for the age group 7-10, and ideally no screen time for
under 3-year olds.
• USA: No more than one hour per day for children ages 2 to 5
years, no more than 3 hours for the age group 7-10.
• France: No TV under 3, no games under 6, no Internet use
(unsupervised) under 9, no social media under 12
• France: 3 years 15-30 minutes, 4-6 years 45 minutes, 6-10 years
1h30 minutes, 11-14 years 2 hours. (Tisseron, 2015)
http://www.20minutes.fr/societe/1724927-20151105-television-tablette-smartphone-faut-associer-
usage-ecrans-chez-enfants-duree

7. Differences – How Much Actually?
Data for Germany (DIVSI, 2015)
• More than half of the 8-year-olds (55
percent) are online.
• Of the 6-year-olds, almost one-third are
on the Internet.
• Among the 3-year-olds it is already every
tenth child.
• Even children without reading and writing
skills can independently visit websites,
using symbols to navigate.
• 79 % of children aged 6-13 watch TV daily,
38% use smartphones (KIM, 2014)

8. Differences – How Much Actually?
France:
• On average, French children
age 6-17 spend more than 4
hours a day in front of a
console, television or
computer (LeMonde, 2017,
based on 2015 data).
France: Internet Use per week
(IPSOS, 2015)

9. Differences – How Much Actually?
• 66 percent of US children between the ages of 3 and 14 use the
Internet (NTIA, 2016).
• 38% of children under two use a mobile device (Common Sense
Media, 2013).
• Seven out of ten children under age eight have used mobile devices
(Common Sense Media, 2013).
• 24% of teens (13-19) go online “almost constantly” (Pew, 2015)
• 92% of teens (13-19) report going online daily (Pew, 2015)
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/136/6/1044.full.pdf

10. Top Results

11. Example: 3-6-9-12
In France, the
rule “3-6-9-12”
has reached
significant
traction.

12. Suggested searches

13. Differences: Memes and Media
• Digital Dementia (Germany)
• 3-6-9-12 (France)
• Mental and physical health
concerns (France)
• Links between screen time and
autism (US, France)
• Links between screen time
socioeconomic status and race
(U.S.)
• Balanced media diet more
important than regulations
(Germany, U.S.)
• Forego the loosing battle on
screen time (Germany, U.S.)
• Lack of focus in class,
changing learning behaviors
(France, Germany)
• Ambivalent view of mobile
tech as learning tool or
learning obstacle (‘app gap ’)
(U.S.)

14. Differences: Memes and Media

15. Media Coverage
My wife and I, like so many parents around the world,
fought and lost many battles over the children's screen
times. The fact that we lost so often is also due to the fact
that ultimately it is unclear what exactly we are fighting
for. Is one hour a day correct? Or one per week? What is
too much? What is not enough? And at what age?
Balanced Media Diet
Digital games do make children
neither dumb nor ill, according to
psychotherapist Georg Milzner.
They promote competences.
Unfortunately also some
undesirable ones.

16. Wikipedia
• Wikipedia French: Smarthpone
Addiction / Internet Addiction
/ ‘Nomophobie’
• Wikipedia English: Screen Time
/ Mobile Over Use / Internet
Addiction
• Wikipedia German: --/ Internet
Addiction / Digital Media
Questions: What entries exist? What statistics, instruments and
articles are referenced? How controversial is the entry (discussion
page)?

17. Conclusion & Outlook
• Mobile Technology: ‘The most successful and certainly the most
rapidly adopted new technology in the world’ (Katz, 2008)
• In addition to personal experiences, search results, popular web
resources (Wikipedia) and media coverage shape our world
• Controversial topics in different cultural spheres – look beyond the
horizon
• Limitation:
• Unclear boundaries
• Constantly changing material (Timestamps / Screenshots)
• Researcher Bias (You don’t know what you don’t know)

18. Stefanie Panke
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
panke.web.unc.edu
panke@sog.unc.edu
SIG Chair Special Interest
Group Design
AACE Social Media
Coordinator
Innovatelearningreview.org
Thank
You!