BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.16, No.1, 2024, BECE 1825 

 

 

 

 

Screen Exposure, Parental Mediation and Media  

Addiction in Preschool Children 

By Zhang, Q. 
Correspondence to: Qing Zhang, Communication University of China, China. E-

mail: sunny322@vip.126.com  

HE intensifying medialization of society has exacerbated the issue of 

child media addiction. Research has shown that media addiction can 

cause a variety of physical and mental problems such as obesity, myopia, 

sleep difficulty, and anxiety. Media addiction in preschool children is likely 

to impose a persistent negative impact on their lifetime development. Early 

intervention in child media behavior proves to be more effective than that 

occurs in later stages of their lives. This study conducted an online question-

naire survey of 2046 parents of preschool children aged between three and 

six to investigate the relations between child screen exposure, parental medi-

ation, and child media addiction. 

Research Findings: 

• Among children of parents polled, 58.7% were exposed to screen for 

over one hour every day, and 28.3% have become addicted to the use of 

media. Mobile screen (smartphones and tablets) was the primary vehicle 

for preschool children’s access to media. Watching short videos has be-

come the second most popular activity in screen use among preschool 

children. 

• Parental mediation was implemented in three forms: restrictive media-

tion, active mediation, and co-use. All of them had impacts on screen 

time of preschool children, whereas only parent-child co-use exhibited 

significant intervention effects on child media addiction. 

• Media addiction in preschool children intensified as their screen time in-

creased. According to the media sensory curation theory, preschool chil-

dren use media to meet their sensory needs, as opposed to adults’ and 

adolescents’ purposes for using media – to acquire information, reach 

emotional communication, develop relationships, etc. 

Suggestions: 

• Parents should view child media use objectively. The benefits of screen 

media as convenient, content-rich, highly interactive tools should be ful-

ly utilized to support high-quality development of preschool children. 

• Parents should pay attention to improving their own media literacy and 

their education on child media use.  

T 

mailto:sunny322@vip.126.com


 

Vol.16, No.1, 2024, BECE 1826 

• Preschool children media addiction intervention requires joint efforts of 

all parties of society to ensure child healthy growth, such as governmen-

tal supervision, community support, media platform self-regulation, kin-

dergarten guidance, and parental mediation. 

 

 
Source: Studies in Preschool Education, 2023; 2023(11):42-54.