Parental media of mobile and social media engagement of teens in Lagos State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to investigate how and the extent to which parents in Lagos, Nigeria, mediate their teens’ use of mobile and social media. There is ample evidence in the literature of the mediation strategies used in developed countries, and our aim was to determine whether a similar pattern finds expression in developing regions like Lagos. We also conceptualised parental mediation as a form of regulation enabled by family power structures where parents feel the need to protect teenagers from what is deemed the harmful effects of mobile and social media use. Using survey and focus group discussions, the findings showed that parents in Lagos use instructive and data-limiting mediation techniques far more than other digital or technical mediation techniques. Findings further showed that parent-child relationship has not been negatively affected by parental mediation, suggestive of the fact that family orderings have not been altered.