Caught between autonomy and control: How Liberian teenagers perceive and navigate parental mediation of their mobile phone use

Abstract

Mobile phones play a central role in the lives of teenagers living in West Africa, but to date we have limited knowledge of how these teenagers perceive and navigate parental mediation of their phone use. This is unfortunate because such knowledge could inform about the interplay between culture, parenting, and children's media use across cultures. To broaden our understanding of parental mediation in West Africa, this study interviewed 37 Liberian teenagers about the parental mediation strategies of their parents and investigated how these teenagers respond to parental mediation. The findings reveal two main mediation strategies: restrictive mediation and monitoring. Although these strategies are also used in the Global North, Liberian parents' authoritarian application of these strategies as reported by our participants is different. Our findings further reveal a boomerang effect, because teenagers enact novel, mobile phone practices to circumvent parental mediation. These practices and the theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.