Digital Media and Latino Families: New Channels for Learning, Parenting, and Organizing

Latino families in America increasingly enjoy access to a dizzying array of content on a variety of electronic devices, from televisions and video games to personal computers and mobile devices. Bruce Fuller, José Ramón Lizárraga, James H. Gray raise pressing questions that face Latino families as they adopt technologies that both have the potential  to entertain as well as educate. They find a new digital divide in the extent to which digital platforms are used for educational purposes by Latino children in Spanish-dominant families relative to middle-class peers. How are families engaging with this media? Who is producing digital content aimed at children and parents? How, or do, these producers consider Latino customers and clients? What kinds of devices are adults and children across this vast and diverse population using?  And how are these technologies disrupting—for better or worse—family and community ties? And how can community organizations mobilize digital tools to empower children and families?

The report was undertaken by New Journalism on Latino Children, a collaborative effort with the Latino Policy Forum and Education Writers Association, and funded by the McCormick Foundation.