An analysis of some variables ınfluencing parental attitudes towards technology and application use and digital game playing habits in the preschool period

Abstract

Abstract The study was conducted in order to investigate young children’s interaction with digital technology in relation to a range of variables. The study population consisted of young children between 0 and 72 months of age who lived in the city of Sivas in 2017 as well as the parents of these children. 414 voluntary parents were included in the sample by means of random sampling method. “A Scale for Measuring Parental Attitudes towards Digital Game Playing and Application Use Habits in the Preschool Period”, a tool developed by the researchers, and the personal information form that involved demographic information were used as data collection tools. SPSS 17 was applied for statistical analysis of the data. As to the types of digital tools, 99% of the participants had a smart phone, 70.8% had a tablet computer and 12.1% had a game console in their houses. Besides, 39.6% of the participant children owned a personal digital device. As a result of the study, children’s favorite digital device was found to be smart phones. Children who lived within a nuclear family and spent most of their time using a smart phone and who had a personal digital device were found to use digital devices more than did their peers in families which did not engage in outdoor activities or read stories together. Keywords: Preschool, digital technology use habits, parental attitudes