Conditions for spread of children's computer culture in the home setting : the importance of a computer for a child and his involvement in computer-based activities

With the development of an information society, a computer is identified not only as a work tool but also a mean5 for leisure, communication, a part of the home setting changing the way of people's activities and traditional life style- Children are represented as active members of this society who participate not only in its creation, but also in learning about it. The paper particularly focuses on integration of children's computer culture into general culture of society not only through dialogue, but also through social conflict (children-adults). The paper emphasizes that adults reject this culture (because of its novelty and non-traditional character) as having no social and educational value per se. The aim of the research is to empirically study the content of parents' representations about the conditions for spread of children's computer culture in the home setting. The content of parents' representations about the conditions for spread of children's computer culture in the home setting was examined by applying a quantitative research paradigm. The application of quantitative research is base on understanding that external factors determine children's culture and influence the content of their computer cultur6 discourse, its spread, therefore it is important to find out which ones became the most apparent and what statistic significance of each of them is.Results of empirical research revealed that parents are often of opinion that computer usage provides children with new opportunities to fully improve (73.9%), therefore parents understand this technological means as an integral part of daily activities of modem children (67.8%). Furthermore, parents admit the existence of children's addiction to computer, which is the result of children's excessive use of computer (90.1%), lack of attention to the child from people around (60.2%) and problems in contacts with friends (49.4%). Parents also think that bans are not the most effective way to evade children's addiction to computer (45.7%), and prevention of children's excessive use of it is possible by making children interested in alternative activities (91.1%) and teaching him to use it safely. The results of the empirical research are significant for educators, education reform policy makers, research^ who, when identifying the implications of children's modem computer culture, can find new ideas for the development0 children's computer culture and establish conditions supporting this culture as a phenomenon of an information society' its specific feature being an educational context