Digital Mothering in Middle-Class Families

The rise of dual-income nuclear families in urban environments has led to an increase in latchkey children. Working parents, particularly mothers, face the challenge of balancing work and home life and often employ digital parenting methods to monitor and guide their children’s media consumption. They often promote content that aligns with their intergenerational class aspirations while discouraging others. To perform their role well, these mothers often seek inputs from social networks of similarly situated women through digital platforms while manoeuvring constant inputs on motherhood from their extended family networks. These digital platforms also become places where mothers interact, share knowledge, and even compete in showcasing parenting skills and aspirations. This chapter will examine how these influences shape a notion of responsible digital mothering, impacting the child’s media consumption patterns and reproducing class status. The chapter is based on a long-term ethnography conducted since 2013 in Chennai, South India.