ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explore some of the many potential ways that siblings might influence the home media ecology and the opportunities that children have to learn with and about digital media. These influences can be both positive and negative; for example, older children might teach younger siblings how to use new digital tools, while in other cases siblings might restrict access to these tools. They discuss several themes that identified as particularly important, drawing on data from our studies as well as the existing literature on sibling relationships and learning. The authors describe the narrower role of siblings as gatekeepers; that is, actively controlling, and often limiting, access to digital media and related learning opportunities. They discuss several broad factors that they identified as important aspects of siblings' influence on children's learning in the home media ecology. Siblings have always played a significant role in the lives and learning of young children.
