Education and Science Vol 42 (2017) No 190 305-323 305 Parents in the Process of Educational Impact in the Area of the Use of New Media by Children and Teenagers in the Family Environment Łukasz Tomczyk 1 , Arkadiusz Wąsiński 2 Abstract Keywords This article is the empirical answer to the question: “In what way does their family environment shape the awareness of youth people in terms of the positive and negative aspects of online participation, and what are the communication-information competences that are necessary to remain safe whilst online?”. The theoretical analyses and research that were carried out (N=238, Poland) on youth people aged between thirteen and eighteen have made it possible to distinguish four different educational styles: neglectful, controlling, controlling-supporting, and partnership. Each is characterized by a variation in the specifics of the child- parent relationship, differing dynamics, the scope of educational influence in the family home, differing understandings of the significance of new mobile and web media, the varying knowledge of parents regarding their children’s e-activity in the context of online safety, and the competences that determine the development of safe forms of e-activity. The gathered data imply that one of the significant factors that protect teenagers from the electronic threats is parents’ knowledge and consequent parenting limits set in accordance with the ways of the new media are used in the family. Simultaneously, we need to point out that there is a further necessity to provide non-formal education among parents, increasing the digital competencies in the area of threats caused by the development of the information society. Youth Use of new media Media education Parenting styles Internet Article Info Received: 05.19.2015 Accepted: 03.30.2017 Online Published: 05.03.2017 DOI: 10.15390/EB.2017.4674 Introduction Systematic, daily internet use is currently an integral element of sociocultural activity in the younger generation, who are the so-called digital natives (Prensky, 2001). The sociocultural dimension of the reality created by new media is their most important power, one which has mentally transformed the modern human being. The framework of new media is becoming more of a social, public, and political space (Castells, 2013; Van Dijk & van Deursen, 2014; İşman & Canan Güngören, 2014). Moreover, this is also a space which, in the minds of the younger generation, is not an additional element of everyday life but its integral component (Potyrała, 2011; Ballano, Uribe, & Munté-Ramos, 2014). This situation is connected with a new quality of sociocultural activity, which combines are flection of events, the interactions, and the experiences of its participants, who are transferred from the social reality with 1 Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland, tomczyk_lukasz@prokonto.pl 2 University of Lodz, Poland, arkadiusz.wasinski@gmail.com