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For a generation whose lives have become digital by default, national borders no longer represent the limits of experiences and actions.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
The contradictions of digital parenting
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, a flood of advice about digital technologies is adding to the demands on parents to manage family life, money, health, ...more
Balancing vulnerability, support, and safety: the promotion and protection of disabled children’s digital rights
Individuals with disabilities make up 15% of the global population, or approximately 1 billion people. There are an estimated 93–150 million children with disabilities globally, ...more
How families of children with autism greet the digital future
As families grind into another school year with children spending large chunks of leisure and learning time in front of screens, parents are asking themselves ...more
Separated during lockdown: how offline games can help young children process loss
How can we help young children make sense of long-term separations from friends or family who are self-isolating when we ourselves don’t know how long ...more
Coding as the new Latin? Can code clubs provide a new pathway for low-income children and help close the digital divide?
Digital technologies can offer new opportunities for participation and education but our recent experiment with home learning during the COVID-19 lockdown raised new concerns about ...more
Teen sexting in the media: try not to panic
Young people rarely get to talk about what they think about ‘sexy’ media – the common message is that sexualised media is always harmful and ...more