"Daddy, daddy, my computer has a fever!" Children and communication technologies in everyday life

Media and communication technologies are an organic part of the everyday lives of ever younger people. In Finland, alongside mobile communication, the Internet has become a central medium that enables children and youth to engage in versatile content production and independent creation of culture. Children and young people are a group with their own usage cultures and communication patterns that differ from those of adults. In my paper, I will present empirical research on children's relationship to new communication technologies. The work is largely based on a material of thematic interviews. I will examine children's relationship to technology as a cultural concept: what kind of a cultural symbol does children's relationship to communication technology constitute, and what are the prevailing attitudes towards technology as a part of children's everyday life? More than 1000 people, including children and their parents, have been interviewed for the study since 1997. In 2002, the research group is coordinating an international comparative study assessing the communication cultures in Finland, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany.