CMCR Research Talk
When the Mediascape Keeps Changing: Rethinking Children, Parents and Digital Media
14 Oct 2026 – 12:30 PM – CVA 932
In just a few years, families have encountered significant changes in the media environment: the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasingly data-driven and personalized media, the rapid rise of generative Al, and a changing regulatory landscape around children’s access to and use of digital platforms. What do these changes mean for children and families, and how should wethink about the role of parents in navigating them? Drawing on a program of research involving national surveys of Australian parents, including three studies tracing children’s screen media use and parental mediation across the pandemic period and another study examining parents’ responses to data-driven personalized advertising targeting children, this talk explores how parents understand and navigate their children’s digital lives. Building on insights from this research, it discusses where conventional approaches to parental mediation may fall short and how emerging developments, including Al and Australia’s under-16 social media restrictions, invite us to rethink some established assumptions about children, parents, and digital media. The talk concludes by identifying emerging questions and directions for future research.
Previous research talks:
CMCR Research Talk | Beyond the Black Box: Human-Centered Explainability for Online Safety
14 May 2026 – 10:30 AM – CVA 504
CMCR Research Talk | Team Member, Tool, or Troublemaker? AI and the future of knowledge production in communication research
28 April 2026 – 2:30 PM – CVA 932
CMCR Research Dialogue
Research Dialogue on Emerging Trends in Academic Publishing in Communication Research in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
22 April 2026 – 5:00 PM – CVA 504
