Children's Rights in the Digital Age: A Download from Children Around the World

"In regards to children's right to education and participation, children reported that being online enabled them to participate meaningfully. They valued the possibility offered by digital media to broaden their horizons, gain awareness of other cultures and be informed global citizens."

This report emerges from a research project (See Related Summaries, below.) involving 17 organisations in 16 countries whose core question was: "How can we give children and young people voice in the debate that explores the impact of digital access and use and their rights?" The project's multi-media package, of which this report is one component, shares the perspectives of 148 children (aged 6 to 18 years, speaking 8 different languages) who, in July and August 2014, took part in workshops to discuss the opportunities and risks associated with digital media. Findings were presented at the Day of General Discussion, a meeting focusing on digital media and child rights that was convened by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on September 12 2014. (Full details about this project can be found in the Related Summaries link, below.) Partners in the project included the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) at the University of Western Sydney and partners from the Digitally Connected Network: the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

In brief, as detailed in the report, during the workshops, children were asked to reflect on the extent to which they used digital media and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their everyday lives. Participating children produced their own "technology use timeline" in which they outlined their digital media use and related rights. They also responded to a series of "vox pop" questions on the opportunities and challenges digital media present in enacting their rights, in addition to developing a creative piece, in a medium of their choice, to respond to a particular challenge or opportunity about which they felt strongly.

The research team undertook both content and discourse analysis of the technology timelines, vox pop interviews, and creative responses. In short: "The research team found that access to digital media is far from evenly distributed across the globe, and certainly if we are to fully enhance children’s rights in the digital age, this needs to be addressed. Nonetheless, regardless of the country they live in, the language they speak, or their socio-economic background, if children have regular and reliable access to digital media, they tend to use it for a common set of purposes, including: social connectedness, access to information, education, self-expression and creativity, and entertainment.

Further, when children don't have access to the latest technologies, they develop innovative workarounds and use the available technologies with high degrees of inventiveness and efficacy....

Children see digital media as crucial to their rights to information, education and participation. By engaging with digital media, they learn new skills and develop their talents; they become informed citizens of the world who can contribute meaningfully to their communities; and they foster friendships, family ties and a sense of community and belonging. These things are important to their resilience and wellbeing....

Digital, media, and social literacies are key to enabling children to leverage the benefits of digital media to enact their rights. Literacy provides children with the technical and higher order evaluative skills required to access, understand, produce and participate in digital media. Because children develop digital literacy via both formal and informal means, they do not always understand their digital competencies as a discrete skill set.

In regards to children's right to education and participation, children reported that being online enabled them to participate meaningfully. They valued the possibility offered by digital media to broaden their horizons, gain awareness of other cultures and be informed global citizens. They regularly used some form of digital technology in relation to schooling, and to satisfy curiosities. Children acknowledged that digital media was sometimes a distraction from studies, but noted that learning how to manage that tension was part of learning how to engage with digital media responsibly.

While children embrace digital media, with many stating that it has improved their lives, they identified a range of risks and challenges associated with their practices."

This report recommends the following:

1. "Actively engage children in an ongoing conversation about how to best leverage digital media to support children's rights in different parts of the world and embed the insights of this process in policy and practice.
2. Develop child-centred definitions of children's rights in relation to digital media in close partnership with children, and work with governments to implement them.
3. Promote balanced public debate, policy making and education that acknowledges the benefits of digital media and connectivity for children's rights, and avoids overstating the risks.
4. Work in close collaboration with children and other stakeholders to improve children's access to digital media in ways that are responsive to the cultural, political, economic and social contexts that shape their everyday lives, and which are user-led but supported by appropriate governance and regulatory frameworks.
5. Actively support children to develop resilience by promoting and supporting digital literacy initiatives for children that foster their technical, media and social competencies.
6. Foster opportunities for children to identify how digital media might support them in enacting their rights, to develop ways of talking about their digital media practices that reflect their own experiences, and to imagine ways of using digital media to help solve problems in their communities.
7. Empower children to take responsibility for their online safety and their digital practices, and to participate online as global citizens by teaching them to know their rights and to respect the rights of others.
8. Where the appropriate social, cultural, economic and infrastructural conditions are in place, develop strategies to engage and skill children as creators of digital media so that children's technological engagement may open up new opportunities for themselves and their communities.
9. Generate high quality, child-centred, participatory research into children's digital practices globally, with a focus on contexts where evidence is lacking and the policy development imperative is most urgent."