Educationalfutures Aldhafeeri and Palaiologou Vol.7(3) June 2016 Digital technologies in Kuwaiti homes __________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ e-journal of the British Education Studies Association 48 © BESA 2016 ISSN: 1758-2199 Interactions with digital technologies of children from 3 to 6 in Kuwaiti homes Fayiz Aldhafeeri and Ioanna Palaiologou Dr. Fayiz Aldhafeeri, Fayiz, Faculty of Education, Kuwait University. E: drfayiz@yahoo.com Dr. Ioanna Palaiologou CPsychol AFBPsS, UCL Institute of Education E: ioannapad@icloud.com Abstract Although there is an increasing body of research on uses of digital technologies by families and children, it is mainly focusing on the western perspective and, in particular, in the USA, Europe and Australia. Conversely there is limited research at a national scale from Arabic countries. Thus this research aimed to survey Kuwaiti families in an attempt to investigate whether households are digitally equipped and to what extent. It also aimed to investigate whether and to what extent children from the ages of three to five are using digital technologies at their homes. Analysis of the findings reflect on Bourdieu’s theory of society and the social change process to reveal that home life has embedded digital technologies and created a set of dispositions that underpin parental and child perceptions towards them. It is concluded that in Kuwaiti homes digital technologies has become “cultural capital” and this has implications for other aspects of organised life such as education. Introduction This paper reports on the way in which Kuwaiti families are responding to the use of digital technologies in the home and places particular emphasis on the manner in which pre-school age children interact with such technologies and parental concerns. A survey of parents and young children examined the extent to which these technologies were evident in their domestic life, the ways in which they were used and the attitudes held by participants towards them. The term ‘digital technologies’ in this study refers primarily to multi-functional equipment or devices, often with communication links that include Internet connectivity. According to O’Hara (2011) digital technologies include multiple desktops such as PC, laptops and mobile technologies as well as digital toys. Gutnick et al (2011) extend this definition and add that it is the Internet that enables technologies that operate as platforms for young children to use digital media and their associated popular cultures (Marsh, 2010, 2011). Here digital technologies (alternatively digital media or devices) describe the