Media and new technology play a key role in the lives of today´s children and adolescents. They have become a very important source of entertainment, information and communication. Recent research in the Czech Republic show (Lifestyle survey 2008 - 2018, Nielsen Admosphere, ATO) that children and youth today spend almost the same or even more amount of time with the media than at school, but unlike school, they enjoy it.

The media landscape has changed a lot during the last 10 years and so media behavior of children. With the expansion of mobile technologies, the role of digital media in the area of ​​children and youth education has increased significantly. Thanks to mobile internet which is for many children already accessible almost anytime and anywhere, today´s youth have easy and constant access to a huge amount of information, far beyond the amount of information which was available to any other previous generations. Everybody is affected, in one way or another, by the ubiquity of new online technologies, but children and young people are usually among the earliest and most enthusiastic users of information and communication technologies. (Livingstone, 2009)

Television is still dominant medium in the Czech Republic, but viewing of You Tube and other internet channels has increased rapidly as well as social networks usage and it brings a lot of questions concerning privacy, individualization and impact of media on everyday life of children and youth. All these changes brings also a lot of questions concerning the education and definition of digital literacy, including media, information, communication and technology understanding, which is now perceived as a fundamental skill for the 21st century. (Livingstone, 2014).  According to D. Buckingham (2007), the growing convergence of contemporary media means that the skills and abilities that are required in a number of modern communication forms demand complex solutions. Media and digital technology have become part of all educational components, both formal and informal. But there is significant and perhaps widening gap between what children do in school and what they do in their leisure time. This is what D. Buckingham (2007) calls the new digital divide. Another issue is that the growing use of mobile technologies by children creates an environment with very limited possibility for control. As a result, parents and teachers have only vague information about children online activities.

In order to make a contribution to the debate about how digital media and technology is re-shaping education, it is important to understand in detail which role the media plays in the lives of today's children.  In my research I would like to show what role the digital media plays in the lives of today's children in the Czech Republic and how it influences children´s education in terms of informal education and as an important source of information for formal education.

 I would like to focus on these research questions:

• How has the media landscape changed in the last 10 years? How have these changes influence children leisure time activities, media behavior and education of children?
  • o The growth of penetration of mobile internet and its influence on children´s leisure time activities.
  • o How different groups of children use digital media and for what purposes, differences in terms of social class and gender.
  • o New media as an important source of information for school - the way children use it
  • o You Tube as an important source of education - usage and effectivity of “how to” videos
  • o YouTubers (the new heroes of today) and their influence on youth and children
  • o Children and youth as creators of media content

In my research I will use combination of different data sources, from a number of research studies focused on children and youths on which I have contributed in recent years. • Lifestyle and media behavior of Czech children (LSS 2008 -2018, ATO, Nielsen Admosphere) - quantitative annually repeated research, target group children 4-14, F2F methodology, sample size 800 • Children and new media (2016) (Nielsen Admosphere) - detailed study focus on digital media usage of children 6-14 years old, quantitative research, online panel, sample size 1500 • Czech children as readers (2018, National Library, Nielsen Admosphere) - target group 6-19 years old, sample size 2000, combined methodology, quantitative research + individual interviews. • Perception of the impact of digital media on education (public opinion 2019, Nielsen Admosphere) - quantitative, online methodology, representative sample of the Czech internet population 15 +, sample size 500. The aim is to describe the development based on multiple data sources which has not been done so far.

The main aim is to investigate how children´s media behavior in the Czech Republic has changed over the last 10 years, especially thanks to the growth of children's access to mobile media equipment. As a result of this, the time they spent on the internet has increased. Thanks to mobile devices and especially tablets, the internet has been extended to younger children and even to pre-school children. Internet has become very important source of information for homework and school preparation. YT has become an important source of entertainment, information but also informal learning with a significant group of “how to” and “let´s play” video users. The results indicate real picture of average day - how much time children spend at school, doing extracurricular activities, and how much time they spend watching media or doing other online activities. Which leisure and media activities parents consider to be beneficial and which they don´t and why. Children's online activities vary according to their age, gender and parent´s education. Even though girls have the same access to media devices as the boys, their online activities are different. While boys prefer gaming girls prefer communication, social networks. Parent´s education also plays an important role. The results show specific user types based on children’s various online activities.

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