Between March 2020 and June 2022, families in Toronto experienced . Ontario schools closed for in-person , longer than , and government . Parents were left to figure out how to manage work, child care and virtual school.

We interviewed mothers of young children to reflect on how they managed their children’s screen media practices during this tumultuous time.

Our study is part of a larger collaborative research study, with researchers in , the United States, China, Colombia, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

 consumption and production can .

Our interviews suggest there is never-ending pressure on mothers to negotiate kids’ technology use. Mothers need support managing these new realities.

Constant re-negotiation of media use

Between January and July 2022, we interviewed 15 mothers in the Greater Toronto Area over Zoom. We recruited parents and caregivers through 10 neighbourhood parenting groups on Facebook. Only mothers responded. Participants had children between the ages of four to 12, with people based in downtown and midtown Toronto and North 91ŃÇÉ«, as well as Burlington and Niagara.

All mothers were in two-parent families, although one was solo parenting with the other parent overseas. Most were middle class. When asked to self-identify racial and ethnic backgrounds of both parents, a range of answers included southeast Asian, Chinese, Jewish, white, Chinese Canadian, Scottish, “born in India now Canadian” and Canadian.

Mothers shared that for most of the pandemic, they were reassessing and re-negotiating their children’s technology use. Negotiations were focused on screen time and home spaces where children used technology.

These negotiations and decisions were loaded with moral implications. They were also refracted through families’ values and practices, mixed with anxieties about children as future adults — and nostalgia for mothers’ own childhoods in less technologically complex times.

Balancing time

Mothers’ reflections on screen time .

For example, mothers constructed some screen time as “good” if it involved skill-building, educational opportunities, communication with friends or family or was a family activity (like watching movies or playing with video consoles or online games together).

Mothers positioned video games played alone or with peers as more concerning. They worried about isolation and addiction. Families adopted strategies for monitoring screen time by using timers, scheduling screen time and limiting children’s access to WiFi or devices.

Guilt for letting someone down

Several mothers cited  around screen time, and many felt that these guidelines placed immense pressure and expectations on them as parents during the pandemic. While they cited these guidelines as ideal, following them was more complicated.

One mother stated: “I’m pretty sure we’ve broken all those rules.” She described parenting during the pandemic as “an impossible balance” of being in a “survival mode” where sometimes “the TV is [the] parent now, because I have to get work done so that I can, you know, generate an income.”

This increased presence of technology in the home and her children’s increased screen time was connected to “feelings of guilt” of either letting her kids down by not being able to interact with them, or letting work down by “ignoring tasks.”

Balancing space

It was not just that time on screens was an “impossible balance” but which screens were being used, where and for what (leisure or school). Families’ domestic spaces changed drastically with the lockdowns.

Open-concept houses made it easier to see what kids were doing with technology for leisure, but was distracting when kids and parents were trying to work and learn from home.

Parents who let their kids use the technology in the bedrooms found this allowed more focus for both the kids during school time and parents during the workday. However, this arrangement made it difficult to know what children were really doing online.

It took a toll

For some, reliable WiFi access wasn’t available in all spaces in the home, and  meant the digital encroached into spaces that parents had previously designated as tech free.

With online school, many mothers found they had to sit near their children to keep them focused and help with the technology. This was even more challenging for those who had two or more young children in school.

One mother described supporting two children online as constantly “ping ponging” between them. Trying to work from home while supporting children took a toll. Many mothers described feeling frustrated as short lockdowns morphed into long months with no sense of returning to normal.

Some parents were able to transcend the school-home binary in a way that they were never able to before. These parents who closely supervised and supported their children with online school had a much greater sense of classroom dynamics between teachers, students and the curriculum.

Tech use changed a lot for families

As the pandemic wore on, decisions and negotiations around screen time and where that screen time happened in the home were ongoing, and perhaps impossible to get completely “right.”

Technology use changed a lot for families during the pandemic. . Instead of one family computer for example, with online school, each child had access to their own device. This affected how mothers managed children’s and families’ time and space.

Mothers’ decisions around children’s screen media use are wrapped in worries about being a “good parent,” concerns around children’s childhood and futures and work-from-home realities.

There is no returning to the pre-pandemic realities of tech in the home. Many kids have new devices, spaces to use those devices — and expectations to use technology for activities that previously were offline.

Must accept shared responsibility

It’s not enough to think our society can manage families’ changed home tech use and the burden of responsibility it brings to mothers just by having medical professionals offer screen time guidelines. One-size-fits-all solutions like .

We need broader discussions that include the responsibilities of  and educational technology companies,  and , to name a few, to support families in navigating these new realities.

Co-written by 91ŃÇÉ« Associate Professor Natalie Coulter and PhD student Lindsay C. Sheppard of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

This article is republished from .

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91ŃÇÉ« U motherhood expert available to discuss cracks in caregiving, women’s rights and gender equality policies

TORONTO, May 3, 2022 — As families get ready to celebrate mothers this Mother’s Day with most COVID-19 pandemic related public health restrictions lifted, one 91ŃÇÉ« motherhood expert says the pandemic has acted as a beacon to expose longstanding cracks in systems of caregiving, women’s rights and gender equality.

With the pandemic in its sixth wave, we are seeing the full extent of what mothers have lost and the real costs of the pandemic on them economically, culturally, socially, and psychologically, says Professor of the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at 91ŃÇÉ«.

Citing a recent study by that reveals women were more likely to lose their jobs, did more unpaid care work and suffered worse during the pandemic, she says:  “As we recover from the pandemic, while it is important to recognize their labour, it is also crucial that public, social, medical and workplace policies that support and empower mothers are improved.

“What mothers want for this Mother’s Day is this recognition, as they continue this necessary labour to allow all of us to heal and recover.”

According to O’Reilly, conversations and actions toward empowered social change are only possible with a matricentric approach that recognizes and supports the crucial work mothers did as frontline workers to keep families functioning throughout the pandemic and as we begin to "return to normal."

O’Reilly, who is available for media interviews to discuss topics relating to mothers and motherhood, is a key organizer of a three-day global conference “” from May 5 to 7.

“Combining multidisciplinary and intersectional perspectives, we will examine the impact of the pandemic on mothers’ wellbeing, and care and wage labour in the context of employment, schooling, resettlement, and family relationships,” O’Reilly notes.

As the title suggests, the conference will bring together scholars, practitioners, and activists to explore the impact of the pandemic on mothers and families around the world while considering strategies for the post-COVID climb-out.

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91ŃÇÉ« is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91ŃÇÉ«'s fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91ŃÇɫ’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91ŃÇÉ« Media Relations, 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca

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