As Seen on Screen: An Virtual Ethnographic Study of Children’s Screen Time by Nicole Stewart B.A., Royal Roads University, 2013 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Nicole Stewart 2016 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2016 Approval Name: Nicole Stewart Degree: Master of Arts (Communication) Title: As Seen on Screen: An Virtual Ethnographic Study of Children’s Screen Time Examining Committee: Chair: J. Adam Holbrook, Adjunct Professor Alexandra Samuel External Examiner Frederik Lesage Senior Supervisor Assistant Professor Richard Smith Supervisor Professor Date Defended/Approved: October 26, 2016 ii Abstract Children’s screen time is a cultural construct, a worldwide issue, and a highly controversial subject that separates people in ideological groups over the perceived impact that media and technology have on children. Screen time is a phenomenon, a discourse, an object, and a thing. It is a slippery, flexible, and complex issue that is constantly evolving, which only intensifies the debate over whether children’s screen time is positive or negative. Using virtual ethnography, I examined a number of field sites including academic journals, Twitter, LexisNexis, Reddit and The Bump to uncover the sentiments that scholars, media and parents form about children’s screen time. These sentiments often mirror the media harm debate, which positions children as vulnerable or competent. The media report on academic research, which is then discussed by parents. Groups form around the affective dimension of the debate (emotional ideologies), which only perpetuates the idea that children’s screen time is positive or negative (rather than both). This either-or proposition is unhelpful for the creation of management strategies that assist children in using screen-based devices in a healthy, balanced and productive way that doesn’t create a division in class structures. Keywords: children’s media; screen time; cultural studies; media harm; virtual ethnography iii Dedication To my husband, Aniz Alani, and my children, Flynn Sullivan and Isla Elizabeth, who have supported and inspired my work. iv Acknowledgements I would like to extend my utmost appreciation to the following people for their enormous help during the completion of my thesis. First, I would like to thank my supervisory committee, Dr. Frederik Lesage and Dr. Richard Smith for their assistance with my project. I am grateful for the careful review and constructive feedback that I received, which was invaluable to the completion of this thesis. In addition, I would like to thank my supportive cohort and friends within the School of Communication, who provided me with an intellectually rich environment to develop this project. Finally, I would like to thank my supportive family for their encouragement during my journey through this degree at Simon Fraser University. My husband, Aniz Alani, reviewed my thesis and watched our little people so that I could do the research and writing required for this project. To my children, Flynn Sullivan and Isla Elizabeth, for always putting a smile on mommy’s face. And to my parents, for always believing in me. v Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Chapter two: virtual ethnography, content analysis and frame theory ...................... 3 1.2. Chapter three: theorizing screen time using cultural studies .................................... 5 1.3. Chapter four: an analysis of how academics have constructed screen time within a media harm debate ...................................................................................... 6 1.4. Chapter five: an analysis of children’s screen time in the media .............................. 8 1.5. Chapter six: parental sentiments about children’s screen time ................................ 9 1.6. Chapter summary ................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2. A Mixed-Methods Approach: Virtual Ethnography, Content Analysis and Frame Theory as a Way to Navigate Children’s Screen Time ............................................................................................. 13 2.1. Why children’s screen time? ................................................................................... 14 2.2. What is screen time? .............................................................................................. 14 2.3. Defining ethnography .............................................................................................. 17 2.4. Cyberspace provides new field sites for ethnographers ......................................... 17 2.5. The difference between online and offline ethnography ......................................... 19 2.6. Audience ethnography, cultural consumption, global media, essentialism and domestication ................................................................................................... 20 2.7. Ethnographic fieldwork ........................................................................................... 23 2.8. The research process ............................................................................................. 24 2.8.1. Uncovering how academics situate children’s screen time ....................... 24 2.8.2. Examining how children’s screen time is presented on social networks .................................................................................................... 25 2.8.3. Analyzing traditional news media to better understand how children’s screen time was framed on Twitter ........................................... 26 2.9. Data collection and analysis: content analysis ....................................................... 27 2.10. Data analysis: frame theory .................................................................................... 29 2.11. Research fieldnotes ................................................................................................ 32 2.12. Chapter summary ................................................................................................... 32 vi Chapter 3. Deconstructing the Popular: Exploring Definitions of “The Popular” to Understand the Screen Time Debate ................................ 34 Part I: The Philosophy of Technology .............................................................................. 36 3.1. An overview of the philosophy of technology .......................................................... 36 3.1.1. Substantive theory: from essence to enframing ........................................ 36 3.1.2. Technological rationality: a society obsessed with screens ....................... 38 3.1.3. Making sense of human-technology relations through phenomenology ......................................................................................... 39 3.1.4. Abandoning reductionism for SCOT and critical theory ............................. 42 3.2. The limitations of technology theories .................................................................... 47 Part II: Media and Cultural Studies .................................................................................. 47 3.3. Situating screen time within a media and cultural studies framework .................... 48 3.4. From the Frankfurt School to British Cultural Studies ............................................. 48 3.4.1. The intersection between cultural studies and the philosophy of technology ................................................................................................. 49 3.4.2. Media and culture is a primary fixture of society ........................................ 49 3.4.3. The Frankfurt School’s critical view on the cultural industry ...................... 50 3.4.4. Moving from a passive to active audience ................................................. 51 3.5. A guide to ideology (and class struggles) ............................................................... 53 3.6. The benefits of a cultural studies approach ............................................................ 54 Part III: Deconstructing Definitions of “The Popular” ....................................................... 56 3.7. The circulation and commerciality of screen and time ............................................ 56 3.7.1. Historicizing screen time: the evolution of screens .................................... 56 3.7.2. The commercialization and circulation of screens ..................................... 59 3.7.3. The limitations of defining the popular through the commercialization and circulation of screens and screen time ................. 62 3.8. Screen time as the cultural activity of the people ................................................... 63 3.8.1. “Screen time” is becoming a more popular cultural phenomenon ............. 64 3.8.2. The cultural evolution of screen usage ...................................................... 65 3.9. The consumer culture ............................................................................................. 67 3.9.1. The limitations of defining screen time as anything “the people” do .......... 67 3.10. The evolving nature of screen time and its connection to class cultures ................ 69 3.10.1. The historical evolution of the term “screen time” ...................................... 69 3.10.2. The complex connection between class,