On Digital Media Risks, Intensive Parenting, and Glocal Tensions: Public Discourse and Parents’ Experiences in Vietnam

Authors

  • Becky Pham Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California

Keywords:

digital media risks, intensive parenting, glocalization, YouTube, netnography

Abstract

Amid rapid technosocial change, public anxiety surrounding digital media risks has heightened, subjecting parents to expectations of intensive parenting. Parents from the Global South must grapple with cultural tensions between their children’s global media landscape and local everyday practices. This study investigates how the Vietnamese public and parents debate digital media risks, the ideology of intensive parenting in a digital age, and relevant “glocal” tensions. Deploying netnography, the data set comprises 43 news articles, 1,460 public comments, and 6 online interviews. The public and parents agreed on 1 dominant ideology of intensive parenting that involves hypervigilance of the children’s media access and consumption. Class plays a crucial role in explaining the variations of parenting practices. While the conservative Vietnamese public and less wealthy parents deemed YouTube a cultural threat to traditional Vietnamese values, middle-class Vietnamese parents championed YouTube’s global merits in preparing their children for opportunities beyond their local setting. These findings call for more culturally nuanced theorization of global media platforms’ influence on parenting practices in underexamined societies where glocal tensions remain pronounced.

Author Biography

Becky Pham, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California

Becky Pham is a Ph.D. Candidate (Communication) at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. She researches how families, young people and communities of immigrant background use digital media and consume popular culture, and how their media engagement shapes their communication and lived experience. Her research has been published in Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Journal of Children and Media, New Media & Society, and in notable edited volumes. Her writing for general audience has appeared on Psychology Today, Greater Good Magazine, and The Connected Learning Alliance Blog. Her co-authored work has been covered by DEADLINE, IndieWire, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kidscreen, NextShark, NPR, SBS Evening News, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, among others.

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Published

2024-04-14

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Section

Articles