It’s a common scenario: Grandma and Grandpa are babysitting, and the kids are glued to screens. This long-standing parental concern is now backed by research,indicating the importance of understanding how grandparents manage children’s media consumption.

While previous research has explored how grandparents in other countries handle children’s screen time, a recent study in the Journal of Children and Media reveals that almost 50% of the time American children spend with their grandparents involves interacting with or watching media on a screen.

According to lead study author Cecilia Sada Garibay,this highlights the growing role of grandparents as caregivers and it’s influence on family relationships and media habits.

“I am the mother of four kids, and my mother has always helped me take care of them,” says Cecilia Sada Garibay, a graduate student studying communication in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona. “I noticed that my children used media differently when they were with her than when they were with me, and my friends with children noticed the same thing. Through our research,we discovered that media consumption is not only important for grandchildren,but that understanding media is just as important for grandparents. Grandparents may want to watch along with their grandchildren or just want to understand what the children are watching.”

Alongside Matthew Lapierre, associate professor of communication, Cecilia Sada Garibay surveyed 350 grandparents living in the US about their time with grandchildren and their strategies for managing media consumption.

The participants were grandparents-not primary caregivers-of children aged 2 to 10, whom they supervised at least three times a month. The study included 178 grandfathers and 172 grandmothers, with an average age of 55. The grandchildren’s average age was 5.

Survey participants also shared their living arrangements: approximately 35% never live with their grandchild and family, 25% live with them a few weeks a year, 6% for fewer than six months a year, 8% for at least half the year, and 10% for the entire year.

Grandparents were asked about the last time they cared for their grandchild and how many hours the child spent using media, including watching TV, movies, or videos, using computers or handheld devices, playing video games, or using the internet or apps.

They were also asked about the strategies they used to oversee their grandchildren’s media use: supervisory, instructive, restrictive, or co-using.

“Supervision involves keeping an eye on what your grandchild is doing, and the media they watch,” Cecilia Sada Garibay says.

“Being instructive means explaining the content of something to your grandchild, while restrictive actions involve limiting the amount of time a child can use technology-or what content they are allowed to view. co-using means watching media alongside your grandchild.”

Along with examining media consumption and mediation strategies, cecilia Sada Garibay and Matthew Lapierre asked participants to rate their digital skills and share their perspectives on the positive and negative impacts of media consumption, and also the severity of any media-related disagreements with the child’s parents.

The study found that when grandparents last cared for their grandchild, they spent an average of seven hours with them, with the child spending nearly half that time consuming media. Children spent about two hours watching TV and another hour playing video games or using the internet on a device.

Cecilia Sada Garibay notes that survey participants employed various mediation techniques, with monitoring being the most common, followed by restricting media time or engaging in discussions. Grandparents were least likely to participate in viewing or playing alongside their grandchildren.

The study showed that grandparents were more likely to use or watch media alongside younger grandchildren if they were younger or more tech-savvy. Grandparents less familiar with technology were more likely to restrict what their grandchild could watch, while younger or more technologically skilled grandparents were more likely to discuss the dangers of media and what to watch.

The results also indicated that grandfathers were less likely to supervise their grandchildren than grandmothers, even though technological know-how increased supervision for all grandparents.

Cecilia Sada Garibay and Matthew Lapierre also discovered that grandparents with negative beliefs about media were significantly more likely to disagree with their adult child about media use, while positive beliefs were not significantly related to disagreements. Positive attitudes toward media were associated with higher relationship satisfaction, while increased media-related disagreement was associated with lower relationship satisfaction.

Cecilia Sada Garibay states that the study demonstrates that media consumption is a notable part of American children’s daily routines and that grandparents approach these situations differently for various reasons.

“I think our most significant result was that a grandparent’s level of confidence with technology was a significant predictor of the kinds of mediation strategies they use,” Cecilia Sada Garibay says.

“The more confident a grandparent felt about media and technology, the more they were able to interact with their grandchildren’s media. Grandparents with more of those skills were able to do significantly better with their grandchildren than those who don’t have those skills. If grandparents can gain those technological skills, then they have better tools to manage their grandchildren’s media use.”