Children’s rights and parental responsibilities in a digital world
In the growing debate over children’s rights in relation to the digital world, parents may wonder about their role. As technology gets more complex, seemingly ...more
Ethical AI? Children’s Rights and Autonomy in Digital Spaces
Childhood records, once kept safe in paper files and family memory books, now exist as records in the digital cloud. This data has become increasingly ...more
No, Education Minister, we don’t have enough evidence to support banning mobile phones in schools
The claim that students’ use of mobile phones at school is connected with lower academic performance has consistently featured in the popular debate around school ...more
What is next for children who grew up with the personalisation revolution?
The interest in personalisation, that is using information about individuals for tailoring generic content, has been with us since the dawn of humankind, but it ...more
Digital and data literacy: comparing children’s understanding of data and online privacy with experts’ and advocates’ data literacy practices
In this post originally published by the CILIP Information Literacy Group, Gianfranco Polizzi, research fellow at the University of Birmingham, writes about digital and data literacy, focussing on ...more
(Dis)connected by design: the possibilities and limitations of connected learning
Digital technologies are often praised for having special relevance for children with disabilities, affording new opportunities and enabling their participation. These benefits, however, are not ...more
Children’s rights apply in the digital world!
Today the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is publishing its General Comment 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, along with versions for children ...more
Children of media – worldbuilders for justice
Children are turning to social media platforms, like Instagram, TikTok or Twitter, to voice their political views and express their activism. What does this tell ...more
The impact of the COVID-19 crisis: is online teaching increasing inequality and decreasing well-being for children?
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge to countries worldwide. With the emerging need for “social distancing”, in the span of weeks, schools around the ...more
“I recognise how important technology is, now more than ever”: the dilemmas of digital parenting
At a time so many everyday activities have gone online, parents are confronting the need to balance the desire to ensure children’s online participation and ...more
Impossible digital choices for parents struggling during COVID-19
Given that the book Parenting for a Digital Future was published during COVID-19, Sonia Livingstone was delighted to be invited by Henry Jenkins to compare notes ...more
Storytelling in the age of the internet: what can we learn from the online narratives of children and young people?
For a generation whose lives have become digital by default, national borders no longer represent the limits of experiences and actions. Their identities, forged through ...more
Children and young people with vulnerabilities online
As most of the world went into various lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet and social media provided a lifeline for ...more
Accounting for parental support for children’s learning online – inequalities matter, but so do skills and attitudes
With children growing up in ever-changing conditions in the digital age, digital parenting becomes more crucial than ever before. The predominant focus for parents, policy-makers, ...more
Children flourishing in the digital age: redesigning and regulating the online environment
Children rely on digital technologies to stay in touch with friends and family but this has recently become even more prominent in a context of ...more
A framework for digital resilience: supporting children through an enabling environment
When children use the internet they encounter both risks and opportunities but their ability to self-regulate their media use and avoid the negative effects makes ...more
Inside the digital society: lessons from little laptops
Once again, children are trying to learn from home, often on an inadequate device and with hard-pressed and under-supporting parents struggling to cope. Even for ...more
Parenting for a Digital Future January 2021 roundup
A new year has just begun, many of us find ourselves caught in new or ongoing restrictions of our working and social lives. With schools ...more
Managing the ‘blind spot’ – challenges and solutions for schools in navigating the digital world
Schools have an important role to play in young people’s social and emotional development, as well as their academic learning. Yet, in spite of recent ...more
Can we “flip the script” from counting hours of screen time to distinguishing different types of online experiences?
Our reliance on internet technologies increased as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed and with it concerns from parents, teachers, and governments that our digitally-mediated lives might ...more