Tanzania adolescents’ digital parenting experiences: does gender matter?

Rapid increase of mobile digital technologies in home environment has heightened concerns over adolescents’ digital parenting in many countries. This cross-sectional study explored Tanzania adolescents’ digital parenting experiences and level of access to mobile phones and Internet. A total of 1000 adolescents (48% female, Mage 15.54) completed a self-report questionnaire. Findings revealed that 23% of female and 44% male adolescents own mobile phones, 70% female and 78% male use mobile phones at home, 80% female and 86% male use devices that connect to Internet at home, and 35% of female and 48% of male adolescents have social media accounts. In addition, 42% of female and 37% of male adolescents reported that the presence of mobile phone in the bedroom affects their sleep. Higher percentage of male adolescents reported owning and having access to digital devices compared with females. Independent-sample t-test results indicate that females reported significantly higher overall digital parenting experiences than males. Females reported higher scores in online disclosure parental monitoring online. Findings suggest that digital parenting may be experienced differently by male and female adolescents suggesting for targeted gendered and culturally relevant digital parenting education and interventions programmes. Implications for practice and future studies are discussed.