Grandparents were mostly aware of any specific rules around technology use already put in place for their grandchildren. We found that grandparents would either attempt to follow the same digital safety approach taken by the child’s parent.
Many grandparents also often had their own digital safety rules when looking after their grandchildren, sometimes meaning that more screen time was allowed, or it was allowed at different times when compared with the approach the child’s parent used. Some of the time, grandparents added specific rules and restrictions for different grandchildren.
Grandparents expressed several concerns about technology use, relating to both physical health impacts as well as psychological impacts.
Grandparents also expressed concern about the health consequences of technology use. Because the grandparents are not seeing their grandchildren every day, they were able to notice these differences more. This was still approached with a certain level of nuance however, with some understanding the push and pull between online and offline life.
Grandparents tended to avoid playing online with their grandchildren, even when the grandchildren asked, and this was due to their own perceived lack of technological knowledge. However, parents would often discuss any issues they were having with their children’s technology use with their own parents. These discussions were often quite fruitful as they gave space for parents to share any frustrations and affirm or discuss choices made.
Conversation tip: Discuss the digital safety rules the parents have in place and how they differ or stay the same when you are caring for the grandchild. We found that parents and grandparents found these discussions were often quite fruitful. It also often led to a better understanding of the child as a technology user in different places helping both parents and grandparents manage the child’s technology use.