ABSTRACT
This chapter synthesises the claim that a cultural study of technologies is productive for new knowledge about young children in digital society. An overview of the preceding chapters of the book is provided, including the limitations of technological determinism in research about young children and digital technologies, and the under-theorisation of technology research in early childhood education and care (ECEC) leading to our focus on practices via a cultural study of technologies. Drawing on the findings of the project and the historical rejection of technological determinism in participatory research, this chapter describes three primary outcomes of a cultural study of technologies, including (1) practices as socially adaptive to technologies over time, (2) mediating the impact of technological determinism in situ, and (3) participatory design as a socially productive method. Based on these outcomes, the chapter concludes that practices as culturally derived suggest new avenues for research, policy, and practice beyond identifying and managing the impacts of technologies on children, towards enabling agency amongst children and their adults in digital society – now and into the future.
