"Behind the high-tech fetish: Children, work and media use across socio-economic classes in India"

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A dearth of media might seem idyllic to urban parents tired of being pestered for an ipad or the latest game. But given the increasing theoretical focus amongst Western scholars and educators on digital media as a conduit to conviviality, creativity and civic participation, insights can be gained from the lives and narratives of media-rich and media-deprived children in areas of the global south. Using original observations and in-depth qualitative interviews with rural and urban Indian children aged 9-17, this paper discusses the media, work, learning and anxieties they face in everyday life. These data are analysed in the context of critical sociological and anthropological perspectives on child work and children’s agency. Findings suggest the need for a revised analysis of media use and cultural meaning in low income contexts as strongly inflected by children’s social class, their responsibilities, labour, contextual knowledge and embeddedness in diverse non-mediated communities.