Media in the Lives of Contemporary Families

Abstract

The chapter on media in family life highlights the aspects of lifestyle of contemporary families in the context of the saturation of households with modern means of communication, their usage and attitudes towards them. Considerable attention was paid to the issue of family-related media in current research, as evidenced by a wide range of studies and research surveys. This chapter is devoted to several partial aspects of this attention and is based on the data of two surveys. The first research is the European representative survey Eurobarometer 88 (Eurobarometer 2017), and the other one is our research on the Lifestyle of the Contemporary Family (further LSCF, 2012–2015). These data shows an extension of selected media facilities in families, their usage and media leisure time activities and attitudes towards media. The studied countries are in some respects very similar to each other (relatively strong media saturation of households, most common daily use of television and computers, positive perception of media as a way to facilitate communication and negotiation). In other respects (joint media activities, strength of perception of negative aspects of media, usage of media by parents and by children), the countries differ.

5.1 Media Research in the Context of Family Issues

In recent years, the issue of the media and the contemporary family has received increasing attention in many scientific disciplines. It is initiated both by massive expansion of media types and their rapid penetration into the space of the contemporary family and its lifestyle, but also by discussions of the influence that the media have in the environment of the contemporary family. Current families in developed countries have been gradually described as “media-rich homes” for more than a decade (Livingstone 2002). The speed of media saturation in contemporary families varies across countries and social strata. However, what is certain is that despite the diversity of such saturation of the family environment, this changes the life of the contemporary family, its lifestyle, communication, culture and the whole family system. The changing family environment in connection with media coverage began to be emphasized, especially in recent decades, when a number of new modern media began to emerge also in families and households (e.g. Livingstone 2002; Watkins 2009; Jenkins et al. 2009; Turkle 2011; Vittrup et al. 2016). Massive media coverage of the society, coupled with a fall in the price of individual media devices, has allowed them to penetrate into households and families in increasing quantities.

Another major change that accompanies the media coverage of today's households is the change in media localization (Livingstone 2002; Hagen 2007). With the increasing number of household appliances, the so-called bedroom culture has begun to emerge, reflecting the shift of TV and computers into the private rooms of individual household members, i.e. nurseries, bedrooms, study rooms, etc. While according to Livingstone (2002), the fundamental problem of families was where to place individual media and whether to equip children's rooms with television or not, the emergence of new mobile media takes the meaning out of these questions. That is because these new mobile media allow individual family members (therefore children as well) to carry them anywhere at any time (e.g. Roberts and Foehr 2008).

The multiplicity and mobility of media at home also brings an ever-greater privatization in the sphere of media use (especially for children), individualization of leisure time activities and declining social control that parents can realize towards children. The worlds within the family can thus distance from each other.

Hagen (2007, p. 372) states that “Children's rooms are an arena in which children can use the media at their own deliberation to pursue their own lifestyle. Households are gradually becoming a space in which people live together, but separately/individually. Parental control becomes the more complicated, the more media resources children have in their private rooms.” Yet in 2012, Coyne et al. note that attention to the way how families use media and how they are influenced by it is still inadequate. Although since then a large number of studies on various aspects of the family and the media have been carried out, the question is whether the mapping of this area can already be perceived as sufficient. That is because research on this subject is quite quickly outdated and its results are usually quickly surpassed. The development of new media and its reflection in social reality usually have a faster gradient than the possibilities of social research and the publication of its results. Another trend, that we can observe is the gradual multiplication of the functions of individual media. The new media are no longer dedicated to the chosen purpose, but allow more functions—communication, entertainment, office replacement, navigation in an environment, etc.

In relation to the lifestyle of a family and its individual members, Livingstone (2002) points to a decline in so-called street culture and to the growth of media-rich households and the privatization of media consumption. He states that children's leisure time activities have gradually shifted from freely accessible places outside the family to the households themselves. This has changed the nature of childhood and the life of the whole family. The usual reasons for such a shift mentioned by parents reflect the sense of danger that the child faces in the streets and outdoors. On the contrary, the home is then understood as a safe place (e.g. Livingstone 2002; Gondová 2014). Arguments of children to justify more time spent at home (and hence in the media) tend to involve pointing out at claimed smaller range of options for active and interesting ways of spending leisure time away from home. However, even when children spend time with their peers away from home, they often tend to spend time together with the media at their friends' homes. The media thus largely concentrated the lives of individuals from the public to the private—to the household and family. However, at the same time, an individualization of leisure time at home happened and as well as a shift from the family’s private space to the “public space” of the virtual media world. Physically, family members are present in a common space, but their minds are in worlds, which are distant and different from each other. Turkle talks about new intimacy and new loneliness (2011).

Analysing the social potential of the media is another important part of their research. It can be assumed that the media in the family space not only play the role of means of leisure time fun, easier communication, home office and other activities, but that their reach goes even further. Reeves and Nass (1998) applied knowledge of personality psychology in their researches in the 1990s and concluded that people treat the media as real people, things and places. People treat the media thoughtfully, media can have their “personality”, evoke emotional relationships, demand attention, influence memories and change ideas about what is natural. The media thus become full participants in our social and biological world. Media personality is perceived as a real personality, the media evoke the same emotions as in a real situation, and the media experience of an individual is an emotional experience. (e.g., Geraghty 1996; Reeves and Nass 1998). In this sense, we could think of media as of other “household members” and that many virtual media characters or media situations are real in their social reach. Turkle (2011) points out at how the use of new media that work with the “be online” status changes social relationships. That is because generations of children growing up in this virtual relationship environment expect less from relationships.

Theoretical views of the media and family is usually based on several intertwining theories that are internally consistent. Most authors rely on systemic approaches to family study, supplemented by knowledge of family development theories or environmental perspectives (e.g. Dalope and Woods 2018). In some publications, media analysis is carried out in the context of the so-called multitheoretical model (e.g. Hertlein 2012). It is primarily an analysis of the importance of technology in partner and family life. This model is based on the interconnection of three theories—perspective of family ecology, structural-functionalist perspective and interaction-constructist perspective.

The environmental approach focuses on the ways how the environment affects family life and the fact that environmental impacts can be reflected in two types of relationship changes—both in the structure of relationships and in family processes. A number of media researchers (e.g. Livingstone 2002) point out at a change in the ecological perspective of today's family, which was highly affected by electronic media. While a few decades ago many electronic media were absent from families or were present only to a limited extent (television, radio), the massive emergence of new media into the private spaces of today’s homes has completely changed the environment in which today's families live, realize relationships among its members and socialize new generations. Buermann emphasizes the fact that, in contemporary families’ television, like other media, “has expanded the space of the family in a way and created new spaces” (2009, p. 41).

Numerous studies are focused at the way how are media usually used by individuals (normative media use) within and outside of the family, with frequent accent mainly on children and teenagers (e.g. Zabriskie and McCormick 2001; Gentile and Walsh 2002; Roberts and Foehr 2008, etc.). However, a number of researches have analysed the use of media and the frequency of it without taking into account context of a family and without linking it to other circumstances of lives of the surveyed people. Most of these studies point to out at the increasing amount of time, which children and young people spend these days in front of television screens, computers, social networks, etc. (e.g. Sak and Kolesárová 2004; Roberts and Foehr 2008). The Dutch study by Nikken (2017) points out at the fact that higher or lower level of use of media in the family is related to these basic characteristics of the family—“education level, number of screens at home, time spent by children on media, type of media content used, ease of mediation, views on media for children” (2017, 1).

Other studies provide an insight into the way how the media influence family habits and leisure time activities of families (e.g., Vanderwater et al. 2005; Jordan et al. 2006). The media explosion in families has caused them to change the way they use media, and it also changed the impact media has on individuals and the entire family system (Padilla-Walker et al. 2012). While some believe that the effect of the media is a process of individualization and individuals in the family are becoming more distant (e.g. Turkle 2011), others argue that the media has become an integral part of the lifestyle of the family and that they can have both positive and negative effects on the functioning of a family (e.g. Hoover et al. 2004; Takeuchi 2011, etc.). Some researches show how family cohesion, communication between members of a family and mutual cooperation are increased through diverse media (e.g. Padilla-Walker et al. 2012; Coyne et al. 2014; Torrecillas-Lacave et al. 2017).

Authors also quite often rely on theories of family development (e.g. Davies and Gentile 2012; Coyne et al. 2014) and assume that families at different stages of development, with respect to the number and age of children, use the media differently, develop different habits and strategies for their use. This also affects family processes and relationships. According to the research, more positive media habits are associated with families in the early stages of development, in families with more children and in families where there are greater differences in the age of siblings (Davies and Gentile 2012). Television socialization of preschool children has been addressed, for example, by Šeďová (2007), who points out at the fact that preschool children usually have to fully comply with their parents with the use of television and their wishes enter family habits as an intervening variable. Other surveys on media education in families clearly show that age is an important variable that determines the degree of parental intervention and the perception of its need. The older children are, the less parents restrict them from using electronic media and they also feel that it is not that much needed. Greater regulation and media monitoring can be found in families with younger children ( Stašová et al. 2012). Many researchers pay particular attention to families with children of adolescence (Padilla-Walker et al. 2012, etc.) System theories make it possible to perceive media as part of the family system and to assume that interactions between individuals in the family create an open and evolving system that is continually influenced by the environment, which in this case contains the media and its influences. The media is perceived as one of many environmental influences, which is reflected in family interactions and may even play a role in redefining family processes or be integrated as part of family patterns or created rules (Livingstone 2002). Everyday family interactions over time create habits, rituals and meanings and contribute to creating a common history and reality sharing. An interesting recent contribution to the study of media in the family is also the study of the use of television during meals with families with preschool children. Wenhold and Harrison (2018) tried to analyse families with a higher and low proportion of watching TV at mealtime and ritualization at mealtime, as well as harmony at mealtime and children's food composition.

The use of media within a family can create “collective memory” (Broderick 1993) and also allow “co-orientation”, which occurs when more people concentrate on the same object in their environment and evaluate it (Koerner and Fitzpatrick 2006). Even though, there may be different social perceptions of each of the actors, the very fact of co-orientation can increase family cohesion in the activity itself. Sharing the media is thus reflected in family cohesion and contributes to maintaining family relationships. The usage in the family is usually dependent on the child's age and the socio-demographic characteristics of the parents, such as education, gender and family structure.

The lifestyle of the family also includes the aspect of the possible gaming media activities. As a significant predictor of playing video games was shown an active-recreational orientation of family (Tobias 2017). For example, Gee et al. (2017) were focused on playing video games in the family, and they pointed out at the fact that media-related gaming and learning can be understood in three contexts—playing video games with accent on digital medium, playing video games like a game and playing video games as a family practice, family ritual. In each of these perspectives, learning also has different positions and meanings. New work by Taylor et al. (2018) has also studied the analysis of ways in which family can learn together through mobile technology.

The interest in modern media, especially electronic social networks, raises sensitive attention. Ünal (2018) focuses on effects, which social networking has on the time spent with family members. For example, it was shown in his work, that “three fourth of the participants logged into Facebook in the presence of other family member. Moreover, most of the participants reported that their partner ignores them and their children due to excessive time spent on Facebook.” (Ünal 2018, 362) Another modern electronic medium was studied by Yu et al. (2018), which pointed out at the role of smartphones in the field of family leisure time and, above all, at the level of common holidays. Leisure time is precisely what the family can use to improve family interaction and cohesion. Qualitative research by the authors has shown that families rely on smartphones as tools that enable them to do both, to maintain family unity while preserving the individuality of its members. Smartphones also conveyed family experiences from a place of staying and altered traditional internalization and the process of preserving holiday memories.

In recent researches, considerable attention has been paid to the relationship between parents and children in the area of common media use. Padilla-Walker et al. (2012) point out at the different ways of how a family with adolescent children uses the media and how it strengthens the family cohesion (also Torrecillas-Lacave et al. 2017). For example, the use of mobile phones among family members is associated with greater family cohesion, parents' awareness and peace of parents (also Green 2008; Weisskirch 2009). An inspirational topic, that could also be given more attention, is the use of media in an extended family, maintaining relationships with grandparents or other relatives. Interesting contributions to the study of media in the context of the present family are also analysis of how media are used in transition situations, especially when entering parenthood (Nathansons and Manohar 2012; Bartholomew et al. 2012). Unfortunately, other transitional situations in the family on the side of parents or children remain aside from greater attention.

5.2 Electronic Media in European Families

The field of use of electronic media and attitudes towards them was included in some of the abovementioned surveys, it was also a part of our research into the lifestyle of the current family, and it was also mapped in the Eurobarometer 88 survey in 2017. This chapter is concerned on the situation in Europe in general and focused especially on countries included in our research. First of all, we use the data from Eurobarometer, and then we continue in analysis of the data from our research (LSCF). The goal is to compare situations and patterns in countries we are interested in and try to use the data from both analyses to describe some features of a picture of media in the lifestyle of contemporary family.

The only exception must be taken in the case of Ukraine, which has not been a respondent state of Eurobarometer survey. Therefore, we can use only data from our survey for Ukraine. Otherwise, into the Standard Eurobarometer 88 survey, which was conducted in 2017, there have been included 34 territories.¹

Eurobarometer has shown that the most commonly used medium remains television. However, the most rapidly growing media used by the European citizens are the Internet and online social networks. Eighty-four percentage of Europeans watch it every day or almost every day. In comparison with the year 2016, it has been a growth of two percentage points. Television is mostly watched on the television set or on the Internet. Furthermore, the proportion of people watching it on the Internet has been rising continuously. Over more, 77% of Europeans use the Internet at least once a weak. Fifty-eight percentage of Europeans use the online social networks at least once a weak, and 42% of population use it every day or almost every day.

If we compare data from countries included in our research and their results in Eurobarometer, there can be found slight differences in watching TV on a TV set or via Internet. More than 80% of respondents watch television on a TV set every day or almost every day in Slovakia and Czech Republic, a lower proportion of 78% in Germany, 76% in Poland and 71% in Latvia.

Watching television via Internet every day or almost every day has been declared at these levels: Latvia 16%, Germany 15%, Poland 13%, Slovakia 8%, Czech Republic 7%. Therefore, Czech Republic and Slovakia could be labelled as more traditional in watching TV. Czech and Slovak people use more often television set in comparison with an access via Internet. In Germany and Latvia, the proportion of watching TV via Internet is double than in Czech Republic and Slovakia (Table 5.1).

Table 5.1 Watching TV in families

Daily or almost daily use of a radio has varied widely from one state to another. It has been least common in Romania (24%) and the most common in Germany (72%). The other states included in our research have had following proportions of people who use the radio daily or almost daily: Latvia 50%, Slovakia 50%, Czech Republic 45%, Poland 44%.

Internet use continues to vary significantly from one-member state to another. According to Eurobarometer data, Slovakia belongs to countries with the lowest proportion of everyday use of the Internet—(52%). Czech Republic and Poland belong to another group of countries where the proportion is higher (55–63%). Otherwise, Germany and Latvia have been found in a group with the share between 64 and 71%. The European mean is 65%, and the higher use of the Internet has been declared by men (69%) than women (62%). According to this, we can see that only Germany and Latvia have occurred in the European mean level or a little bit higher—Germany 67% Latvia 71%.

As the Eurobarometer has shown, over four in ten Europeans (42%) say they use an online social network every day or almost every day. This proportion raised continuously over the last few years. Despite this, 35% of Europeans have declared that they had not been involved in online social networks, 32% have never used them and 3% said that they could not access them. Regarding the use of online social networks, there have been found significant differences among member states. In the Czech Republic and Germany, the daily use has achieved 32%; by contrast of it in Sweden, it has been 60% of respondents. The use of online social networks is on the rise in a large majority of studied countries, particularly in Poland and Bulgaria. On the other hand, it has fallen slightly in Ireland and in the Czech Republic. A significantly higher proportion of population in Latvia has declared that they use online social network every day or almost every day (53%) in the contrast with other countries included in our research.

More information about media at homes come from our research (LSCF). Our data showed that families in countries where our research was conducted differed in terms of media facilities. More than half of respondents in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine reported higher levels of TV sets (i.e. two or more TV sets at home). On the other hand, households with no TV set were most prevalent in Germany, where almost a quarter of respondents said that they do not have a TV set (Fig. 5.1). This may be partly explained by data from the Eurobarometer 88, which showed that in Germany, for example, people use more Internet connections to watch television than a conventional television device. Our research data showed that all the German families we studied were equipped with a computer. Overall, computer equipment in households was high in the countries we reviewed. Only in Latvia, 11% of respondents said that they do not have a computer, and in Ukraine it was less than 3%. In other countries, the share of families without a computer was negligible (up to 1%). Even more than half of households in all countries except Latvia had two or more computers. This was mostly the case of Slovakia, where the share of households with two or more computers was almost 71%. From this point of view, households’ equipment of computers was higher than equipment of televisions. However, this may be related to the fact that in many cases television broadcasts can be viewed online on a computer, and the computers can thus well substitute the functions of the television.

Fig. 5.1

Percentage of families equipped by media devices

The households we studied also showed considerable access to the Internet (Table 5.2), as the Eurobarometer data did. Paradoxically, in our research, the Internet access was the lowest in Latvia (less than 90% of households with the Internet access), while in the Eurobarometer survey the Latvian households used the Internet and social networks to a greater extent. However, it is possible, that due to the time gap between the collection of our survey data and the Eurobarometer survey, fundamental changes in the digitization of Latvian households occurred. On the other hand, differences may also be due to the fact that access to the Internet does not necessarily mean that households are actively using it.

Table 5.2 Internet access in families of the studied countries (percentage of households which reported the Internet access)

In all other countries, the Internet access was above 90% and in Poland it was even 99%. High Internet access was probably also related to the fact that we interviewed households with children. Data from a number of surveys show that the presence of children at a household increases the presence of media and also the access to the Internet (e.g. Latvia. Statistics in Brief 2019; Czech Statistical Office 2019). Families often acquire these facilities because of children and to allow them to use media and the Internet for school preparation. Modern means of communication also represent for children a path of inclusion into peer groups.

In the studied families, it was a matter of course to own a mobile phone. Most households had more of these devices, which could also copy the number of household members who could use it. Paradoxically, in Germany only two-thirds of households reported two or more mobile phones in the household, while in other countries the proportion of such families was over 80%. However, this may also be related to the composition of households and the age of children in them.

Among the less represented media in the families belong DVD players. In Latvia, Germany and Ukraine, one quarter or more households did not have such a facility. On the contrary, two or more of these facilities had a part of Polish and German households (more than 15%) and about 13% of Czech families. Even less than DVD players occurred in families’ video players. A large proportion of Latvian, German and Polish households did not have it at all (more than 60%). The presence of two or more video players was otherwise very low, ranging up to 5% of households in all countries studied.

Also, at the time of our investigation, the game consoles were probably still entering family homes. Their higher incidence was recorded in the Czech Republic and Germany, where at least one facility had around 40% of households. In the contrary, very few gaming consoles appeared in Latvia and Ukraine (88% of households did not have such a device at all).

IPod and MP3 players were most frequently found in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where more than a third of households reported that they have at least two of them. On the other hand, the lowest number of facilities was in Latvia, Poland and Ukraine (52% and 46%).

At the time of the survey, the tablets also appeared to be entering European households. In fact, in all countries studied, more than half of the households had no such a device at all.

5.3 Media Activities as Part of Spending Leisure Time

Another part of our questionnaire was directed to the use of media and activities of families around them. Therefore, we asked respondents who from the family uses the media equipment the most. Some media devices were shown to be highly parental across the spectrum of countries studied (such as television), and some were used more by children (tablets, games consoles, IPods and MP3 devices) (Figs. 5.2 and 5.3).

Fig. 5.2

Percentage of families where selected media devices are used mainly by parents

Fig. 5.3

Percentage of families where selected media devices are used mainly by children

While in Germany computers and tablets were predominantly parental media, in many other countries (except the Czech Republic) they were used more by children. In Polish households, DVD and video players were clearly the parental media, while in other countries they were used by both—parent and children and were both used on a similar level. Game consoles, IPods, MP3 players and tablets were clearly used more by children in Czech households. Also in Ukrainian households, the main users of IPods, MP3 players and tablets were children. A certain exception was observed in Slovak households.

Some facilities did not show a clear tendency, as the proportion of children and parents using them was close to 50%. It was both parental and children’s media—as, for example, computers.

In terms of the frequency of media use in households, it was possible to follow trends from our research that were also confirmed by the Eurobarometer survey. Every day, the interviewed families used most often television and computers. The use of television even (with the exception of Germany) outweighed the use of computers. In Germany, there was a slightly different pattern of using media devices, because there was lower level of TV sets equipment but much higher computer equipment. It can be assumed that this is also the reason why the daily activities related to the use of computers were higher in Germany (Table 5.3).

Table 5.3 Daily use of selected media devices

Less frequently used media were, due to the lower level of their equipment, video players and game consoles (only 1.5% of households to 10% of households used them every day). Most of these facilities were used in the Czech Republic, Latvia and Ukraine.

The daily use of IPods, MP3 players and tablets showed some differences. Quite surprisingly, the highest shares of daily use of these devices occurred in Ukrainian households. About a third of the households, which were equipped with these devices, used them every day in Latvia and Germany. On the contrary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia had the lowest proportions of their daily use. The use of tablets was somewhat different. Latvia, where nearly two-thirds of households used tablets every day, was ranked behind the abundant Ukrainian uses. The Czech Republic, Germany and Poland reported between 30 and 40% of households with daily use, and the lowest use was again in Slovakia. Slovakia generally showed the lowest share of everyday use of these devices and on the other hand had the highest use of TV and PC.

The question of the frequency of media activities was measured also by another question in our questionnaire. Respondents were asked how often they watch television, video or DVD in their free time. In terms of answers to this question, Ukrainian and Latvian households were the strongest viewers, with over 40% of respondents saying they were watching more than two hours a day. On the contrary, respondents from Germany and Poland showed the least time spent by watching these facilities. It was also interesting that in Germany there was the strongest group of those who did not watch these facilities at all (11%). Again, this may be related to the fact that in Germany, the Internet was also used more for watching TV than in other countries.

A question about the frequency of gaming (whether on a computer or via the Internet) showed that the strongest players were again respondents from Ukraine and Slovakia. These countries had the highest proportions of respondents who reported playing more than 2 hours a day. In the Ukraine, it was almost 50%, in Slovakia 38% (Fig. 5.4).

Fig. 5.4

How often you play on a computer or via the Internet?

Gaming was the least declared in Germany (8%) and in the Czech Republic (14%). Very interesting was also the proportion of those who declared that they do not play at all. It was comparable for a number of countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia 10–13%) and Latvia and Ukraine (6–7%). The group of “weaker players” included the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland as countries with a lower proportion of leisure time playing, while Slovakia and Ukraine showed a higher frequency of gaming activities.

It would be also interesting to create further analyses of what kind of households are the interviewed families, what is their lifestyle and what are other circumstances that lead to the media activities of these family that they do not play computer games at all. Some studies show that playing computer games is usually more of an activity of children or a joint activity of fathers and their sons.

In the next question, our research was focused on respondents' attitudes and agreement or disagreement with some statements concerning electronic media in households. Respondents were presented with a set of statements on which they expressed positions on a four-point scale, from “very agree” to “very disagree”. They were not offered the middle variant and always had to choose positive or negative view towards the statement.

We could again observe some similarities and differences of studied households. Overall, our respondents were most in favour of these statements: “The electronic media we have at home makes it easier for us to communicate and to agree with each other” and “The electronic media we have at home allows us to be independent”. Equally positive was the view of the statement “The media we have at home allows us to be able to focus on our own hobbies and our own entertainment” (Table 5.4). Our respondents significantly pointed out at the advantages and positives of the media and what they allowed them to do. It was just mentioned the facilitation of communication, independence and the opportunity to engage in hobbies and entertainment. Respondents from Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland strongly reflected the media as a factor enabling them to pursue their hobbies and their entertainment.

Table 5.4 Attitudes of respondents towards the media (percentage of consent to the statement)

The media as a source of a distance between family members was also reflected in Germany and in Slovakia almost in half of households. Agreement with the statement that “we spend more time with media than with talking with each other at home” was the strongest in Latvia, Slovakia and Ukraine, where about half of the families surveyed agreed with the statement. The strongest agreement with the statement “If we had no media at home our life would be better.” was registered with Slovak families (almost one third of respondents), the second country where its respondents expressed stronger agreement with this statement was the Czech Republic (27%). Disputes in the family as a result of the influence of media in the family were most often declared by respondents from Latvia, Slovakia and Ukraine. These were also the countries in which respondents also agreed most with the statement that they spend more time with the media than with communication within the family. The countries in which we can perceive a stronger perception of the negative impact of the media were Latvia, Slovakia and Ukraine. With regard to theoretical approaches, our data confirm both the hypothesis of the negative impact of the media on the family life and also its positive benefits (e.g. Padilla-Wlker et al. 2012; Torrecillas-lava et al. 2017; Yu et al. 2018).

5.4 Joint Media Activities in Leisure Time of Families

Another interesting area that we had the opportunity to watch in our data was some common media activities in the family, namely the joint playing of computer games and the joint watching of television, especially during leisure time. These are the media that are most commonly used in families, and we asked if family-related media activities are also done together with other members of the family. In all countries, the share of families who very often play together on a computer or on the Internet ranged only from 2 to 4%. It was the highest in Ukraine (3.7%). The highest proportion of families ever playing computer games together (either very often or occasionally) was among Polish families (42.4%). On the other hand, Germany and Slovakia were the populations where computer gaming was declared the least, with more than 70% of the families which surveyed that they never play together. Overall, playing games was not a very common activity of the studied sample of European families (Table 5.5).

Table 5.5 Do you ever play computer games together?

Another question in the questionnaire (30 hb), which included computer and Internet gaming during free time, confirmed that gaming is mostly an activity that respondents do independently. Playing together with another family member was the most common in Ukrainian (40%) and Polish households (20%).

This was different with watching TV, almost 50% of households in Slovakia, Poland and Latvia reported that they watch TV together very often (Fig. 5.5). Households in the Czech Republic and Ukraine mentioned TV activity as slightly less common, and watching TV together was the least common in Germany, where the share of families who never watch TV together was 17.6%. This might be related to the fact that in Germany not that many households are equipped with TV sets in general and there was also a lower use of television recorded.

Fig. 5.5

Do you ever watch TV at home together?

Yet in another question (30 gb) of our questionnaire, it was possible to see if respondents reported watching TV, video or DVD together. The fact that they watch these media together with a family member in their free time was most often mentioned by Czech and Slovak respondents, and the least by Latvian households.²

In households where family watches TV together, we were also interested in what types of family programmes are most often watched together.³ Czech and Polish households were most interested in watching documentary and educational programmes. Czech, Ukrainian and Slovak families were most interested in news and journalism. Overall, families across the countries studied mostly watched films and series together. Czech households were more interested in sports and music programmes and together with Slovak households, in entertainment programmes.

If we look at watching TV programs together with a family through the country's optics, we can see that in Slovakia the joint watching television included mostly news and journalism, films and series and entertainment. In Ukraine, it was mainly news and journalism, with a slightly lower frequency of films and series, and there was also an abundance of statements that families were watching everything, the type of programme did not matter. Polish families watched mostly documentary and educational programmes and films and series. In Germany, between the mostly watched TV programmes together were included documentary and educational programmes, films and then news and journalism, with a similar intensity of series. In Czech families, there were highly watched most of the types of programmes.

According to a number of surveys, family activities create and increase family cohesion. Joint media activities may also contribute to this (e.g. Koerner and Fitzpatrick 2006; Broderick 1993; Coyne et al. 2014). Therefore, contemporary families can realize the necessary component of sharing and spending their free time together through appropriately chosen media activities. At the same time, parents can also non-violently implement some elements of media education and approach the world of their children plus find common communication topics.

In our research, we also tried to uncover the reasons for watching TV together (Fig. 5.6). In the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, it was because respondents liked the same programme. In Germany, it was a pleasure to enjoy watching together, while in Ukraine the enjoyment of watching together and the interest in the same programmes contributed almost equally. In Latvia, in addition to these two reasons, the fact that respondents do not have more televisions was more pronounced, and this was a joint activity that could be partly enforced by circumstances.

Fig. 5.6

Main reasons of watching TV together

In our survey, we have mapped only selected common media activities, of course the current technology allows much more (sharing photos, creating family videos, social networking activities, sharing music, etc.). There is a large number of opportunities for the positive use of modern digital technologies in family life and it is mainly a matter of creativity of the current parent generation, how they will approach these possibilities and whether they integrate them appropriately into their lifestyle and into educational strategies or not.

5.5 Different and Common Features of Family Lives with Media

Looking at our survey, data also raises a question of what common or different media traits we can see in family life. First, the characteristics of families in the countries of our survey are briefly summarized, and then their main common features and differences are outlined.

The Czech Republic proved to be a country with a high saturation rate of media, i.e. television, mobile phones with considerable access to the Internet, but at the time of our research tablets were lower represented in Czech families. Internet access was high (97.6%). In terms of the use of media by generations of parents or children, television and video players in the Czech Republic were more of a parental medium, while other media (except computers) were used more by children. In terms of daily use of media, Czech families reported television and computers and half of the respondents also reported tablets.⁴ Roughly one third of respondents watches TV, video or DVD more than 2 hours a day, while 1% does not watch anything at all. The Czech Republic was one of the countries in which gaming was not so widespread. Most of Czech respondents agreed that the media facilitated communication and negotiation in their households and allowed respondents to be more independent (more than 50%). Positive aspects of media were therefore more perceived and the Eurobarometer survey also showed a higher share of trust in radio, television, the Internet and electronic social networks. One third of the surveyed households plays computer games at least occasionally at home and more than 90% watch TV at least occasionally together. Very common is watching TV together in about 43%. Czech households watch TV shows together mainly because they like the same programmes.

At the time of our research (data collection 2013–2014), Latvian families seemed to be entering a phase of higher mass media coverage of households. They showed a clearer share of families that did not have some of the devices (computers, DVD players, game consoles, IPods, MP3 players and tablets). At the same time, there was a slightly higher share of households that did not have a mobile phone. Internet access was almost 90%, but among the studied countries it was the lowest. On the other hand, in the Eurobarometer survey (2017), Latvian families have already shown, for example, significantly higher daily use of electronic social networks, but rather lower trust in the Internet and social networks. Also in our survey, despite the lower equipment of tablets, the studied families showed that those households who had them used them very intensively (63% of them used them every day). Similarly, Latvian families watched TV, videos and DVDs intensively. Almost 43% watched these devices over 2 hours per day. But they used TV less to watch TV programmes and used for it more the Internet. Latvian families have identified themselves most with the statement saying that the media allow them to pursue their own hobbies and entertainment and to facilitate communication. Compared to other countries, they expressed that they usually spend more time with the media than talking at home (almost 50% of households). At the same time, Latvia was a country where respondents reported frequent arguments because of the media (almost a quarter of respondents). Watching television together was quite often in Latvian families (47% very often, 47% occasionally). In the question: with whom do you watch television, video or DVD most often in your free time, respondents stated that they predominantly watch television, video or DVD alone (almost 95%). This was a significant difference from other countries. It brings a paradox that needs a further clarification. This may be also related, for example, to the understanding of both questions in the questionnaire.

German families were generally characterized by lower level of TV equipment (almost a quarter said that they do not have a TV set) and also by lower television use, which was probably offset by computer equipment that was also used to watch TV programmes.⁵ The equipment of the other media devices was rather higher than in the other countries. Computers, televisions and surprisingly tablets were more of a parental media, while gaming consoles were used more by children. DVDs, video players and IPods + MP3 players roughly evenly intervened into both generations. In Germany, the daily use of media was also mostly connected with television and computer, about 1/3 of households used social networks every day (Eurobarometer). Germany was a country with a higher level of trust in radio, television and press, but with much lower trust in relation to the Internet and electronic social networks (there was the trust in these tools the lowest from all the analysed countries). PC and Internet gaming was rather smaller than in other countries. The German families were mostly in favour of the statement that the electronic media they have at home allow them to be independent and that the media facilitate communication. When compared to other countries, Germany belonged also among those countries where it was stressed more than anywhere else that the media distance family members away from each other. This rather individualizing aspect that we could observe in German families was confirmed games together.by watching TV together as a family or playing computer.

Poland was a country with relatively high media saturation of households; it even showed the highest Internet access (99%). At the same time, the Eurobarometer survey showed a higher level of trust in the Internet and electronic social networks (42% and 28%) in comparison to other countries. The trust was lower in traditional media such as radio, television and press. Television, video and DVD players were strong parental media in the Polish households, while computers, game consoles, IPods, Mp3 players and tablets were clearly used more by children. The daily use of selected media devices was rather lower, in terms of watching TV, videos, DVDs, and playing games on PC and on the Internet. Therefore, it is possible that overall the time devoted to media activities in Poland was lower than in other countries. In terms of attitudes towards the media, the Polish families have identified themselves most with the statement claiming that the media facilitate communication and allow them to pursue their hobbies and entertainment. Watching TV together as a family was quite common, gaming also appeared as an activity that family members do at least occasionally together.

Slovak families were well equipped with media devices at the time of the survey, with the exception of game consoles and tablets. In the Eurobarometer survey, Slovak respondents showed rather higher levels of trust in selected media and they watched television mainly through a TV set (not via the Internet). According to Eurobarometer, Slovakia was one of the countries with lower daily computer use (52%), but this was not reflected in the sample of our families. Slovakia reported more than 90% of daily computer and television use. However, substantially lower was a daily use of other media devices. In this respect, Slovak households have more traditional focus. As a daily leisure time activity, watching TV and computer use were represented in about 60% of respondents. In comparison to other countries, in Slovakia was recorded higher computer and Internet gaming, around 50% of households play games every day. However, it was rather an independent activity of respondents, not a joint playing of family members. On the other hand, watching television was more common activity of households. Slovak respondents of our research strongly inclined to the opinion that the electronic media they have facilitated their communication and negotiation. This was related to the fact that thanks to the media they could be more independent. Slovak families where those of all studied countries who also agreed the most to spend more time with the media than talking at home with other family members (53%).

Ukrainian households⁶ were also relatively well equipped with the media, only gaming consoles in more than 3/4 of households were not present. In the Ukraine, television and computers were used extensively every day, as well as IPod, MP3 players, gaming consoles and mainly tablets. Tablets were also used in the most of the Ukrainian households, with almost three quarters of those who use these tablets every day. IPods, MP3 players, computers and tablets were more of a children's media, because more than 50% of them were used by children. In the Ukrainian households, there was also a higher frequency of computer games, 80% said that they were playing daily and almost 50% that it was even more than 2 hours a day. For the Ukrainian respondents, the media mainly meant that everyone could devote their time to hobbies and entertainment and that they could spend their free time together. However, almost 50% of respondents also reflected that they usually spend more time with the media than talking at home, and almost one quarter also reported frequent quarrels at home because of the media.

The families we studied had in common a considerable saturation of some media devices—computers, the Internet access, mobile phones and also TV sets. On the other hand, some of the devices have not been so common in the households (tablets, game consoles). Some of the recent digital devices showed differences at the time of our survey; for example, IPods and MP3 players were already present in most of the households in the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia and also in Ukraine, but in Latvia and Poland the prevailing part of households did not have them. Video players were widely represented in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while in the other countries it did not occurred in most of the households. Televisions and computers were used mostly every day; this was same for all the countries. Differences were found mainly in the case of the daily use of tablets, IPods and MP3 players. Tablets were mostly used mainly in the Ukraine and Latvia, IPods and MP3 players every day in more than 50% of households, that owned them, in the Ukraine.

Overall, it can be stated that the media and media facilities are an essential part of the lives of contemporary families and that they have been well represented in households at the time of our survey. At the same time, the development in this area has progressed significantly in recent years and it can thus be assumed that the current modern digital means are also largely involved in the leisure time activities of family members. Some media activities are carried out in families together, some rather encourage individualization within family life. This is one of the reasons why the interviewed families point out the benefits that the media bring to their lives, that the media allow them to be more independent and that they also allow easy communication between family members and bring a way how to realize their hobbies and entertainment. Nevertheless, the media in some households are also a source of tension, conflict and distance family members from each other. However, these negative aspects did not the interviewed families highlighted as strongly as the apparent positives of the media.