Mediatised routines in Indian middle-class families: YouTube in young children’s everyday lives

This article examines how the everyday routines of young children (1–10 years old), particularly mealtimes, leisure activities, and play, are mediatised in Indian middle-class families. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 families, the study situates children’s and parents’ regular, extensive use of digital media within a broader national digital consumption culture, in which smartphones, streaming platforms and constant connectivity have been normalised and embedded in everyday routines, without a second thought on the impact of such a digital culture on society. The findings show that families typically own multiple devices and have good internet access, and that digital media are treated as ordinary extensions of self and family life rather than as exceptional technologies. Children born into this context are quickly socialised into a ‘digital way of life’ with YouTube and other platforms commonly used throughout the day to support, supplement, and, in some cases, replace offline activities. Everyday routines, such as eating, relaxing, and playing, are thus reorganised around screens, revealing how micro-level parenting and childcare activities intersect with macro-level media cultures. This article argues that these dynamics contribute to the making of children’s mediatised worlds in contemporary India.