Pleasure,Excess and Self-Monitoring: The Media Worlds of New Zealand Children

Abstract

This report describes the outcomes of extensive research (questionnaires, focus groups, drawings) on the media use of students aged between eight and 13 years (n=860) in the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The research replicates earlier child-centred research by the authors, but with a greater emphasis on newer media technology, such as cell phones. The various facets of the research, framed within theoretical explorations, produced detailed and often candid insights into the role played by contemporary media in the lives of New Zealand children with respect to the overt and covert use of technology, shifts in relationships between children and adults. It also generated some interesting cautionary tales.