Urban Mexican Children and their Intermedia/Transmedia(lity) Cultural Habits

Abstract

The article examines elementary school children and their intermedia/transmedia cultural habits, from the perspective of the students who have grown up in a rapidly changing multimedia environment defined here as the complex ecosystem of texts and images that surrounds people and that flow through traditional media and all digital formats. How do children relate to it? The answer to this question is guided by the classic theory of Uses and Gratifications and the Intermedia/Transmedia approach that helps us to understand the new ecology of the media environment surrounding children. To provide information on children's cultural habits regarding media, data were collected in public and private schools in Mexico City. The results generated by the survey give us a snapshot of the interconnectedness of modern media of communication and its centrality in the lives of children. Closing statements reflect on the need to link children's cultural habits to key educational concerns, such as new forms of literacies that promote critical consumers and producers of culture.