Barns medierade värld syskonsamspel, lek och konsumtion

Sammanfattning: This thesis focuses on sibling interaction and children’s everyday media practices in their homes. Ten sibling pairs, aged four to nine years, have been followed in their homes during a six-month period with media ethnographic methods. The data mainly consist of video recorded sibling interactions.The thesis draws on sociocultural theories, cultural sociological perspectives and insights from social interaction research. The analyses are grounded in the social interaction and meaning making acts that take place in media activities in the home settings. However they also extend to a broader societal context, in order to show how social structure and social action are constantly interwoven in children’s lives.The thesis documents how the media represent an important part of the child's everyday culture. Media create key reference frames and common platforms for the children’s games and play activities. The siblings use media and various artifacts to negotiate, challenge or assume desirable positions. Media artefacts can also be used as a way to present oneself.The younger siblings progressively work their way into the older siblings’ media landscapes, and the elder siblings become guides or role models in handling video games, music, and YouTube activities. In addition to purely practical skills when it comes to handling the technical equipment, the older siblings also mediate local taste hierarchies, norms, and values.The thesis also describes how children are social actors who interpret and reinterpret the constant ongoing movements in the media landscape. Moreover, the thesis highlights how consumption is closely linked to media practices. Mobiles, games consoles and membership on virtual gaming sites become highly valued phenomena and status markers in children’s media worlds.