Taking over the Home: Children’s Mobile Media Play in Domestic Space

This study explores scenarios of use concerning the play practices of children on mobile devices, and the subsequent domestic tensions that arise out of such practices. In the domestic media landscape, mobile media has increasingly featured in the contested and contradictory practices of the home [Morley (Home territories: Media, mobility and identity. Routledge, 2000)]. Mobile media constantly blur distinctions between public and private, work and leisure. We draw on fieldwork from the Games of Being Mobile (GoBM) Australian Research Council (ARC) project—a 3-year, nationwide study of Australian mobile gaming practices—to unpack how these tensions manifest within the domestic environment.