Abstract:

Present-day children live in a highly technological environment and the constantly developing digital technologies call for a responsible attitude and behaviour of the adults regarding their upbringing and education. Parents, teachers and researchers must combine their efforts in view of revealing the potential of digital technologies for child education.

The family is apparently undergoing a crisis. Family life is becoming more mediated, contacts are increasingly dependent on the Internet (via Skype, Facebook, etc.), with conflicts being more and more symbolical and virtually mediated, rather than physical. The family seems to be losing control over its children as well as in the battle with digital technologies. A range of questions that what happens in the so-called media space every day poses need professional answers and comments with regard to education and social prevention.

All this provoked a research which main goal is to analyse the reflection and effect of access to digital tools and the acquired digital skills on everyday lives of 3-6 years kids. 300 mothers and fathers of children in kindergarten age are examined through a questionnaire that includes: some personal data; parents’ attitudes to digital devices in everyday lives of the kids; level of acquired digital skills of their children; their opinion about kid’s preferences about games, apps, websites, i.e.; the access to digital devices at home; when and how long kids use technologies and so on. 400 kids from kindergarten age are examined through personal interview that includes: some personal data; information for possession of digital devices at home; some examples from kid’s lives, concerning the time and the way of the use of devices (during plays, while eating, during park walks, at restaurants with parents and so on). The research took place at town of Burgas, Bulgaria. The results are summarized and presented, and some conclusions are formulated.

Keywords:

Digital skills at early age, kindergarten and technologies skills, parents attitude to digital technologies.