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Enable children’s participation, expression and access to information.
Innovating for child participation in a digital world means creating opportunities for children to form opinions, impart and receive diverse information, and freely join social and political activities. Although these are sometimes overlooked or sacrificed for safety reasons, children’s civil rights and freedoms are vital for their participation in a digital society, no less than for adults.
This is one of 11 child rights principles applicable to the digital environment. Together they encompass the full range of child rights covered by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Summary of the key evidence from ySKILLS
Summary of the key evidence from ySKILLS
Information, news and critical literacies are vital for children’s effective participation as young citizens growing up in a digitally mediated democracy. Social media are children’s main way of keeping up to date with current events, followed by television and online news sites.
Civic engagement is more common in children with higher content creation and production skills and greater digital knowledge.
Children use their skills socially, not only for individual benefit, but also to benefit others – children with high digital skill levels are often asked for advice (and frequently provide advice) to their peers.
Online participation is not inevitably a positive experience for children, who report a wide range of concerns such as excessive social media use, increasing pressure to be constantly online and the fear of missing out, conflicts with peers such as misunderstandings as well as more severe forms of online aggression such as cyberbullying or hate speech.
“I try learning general information and knowing about new things, so I follow channels that give new information and tell stories or narrate religious events.” (Syrian teenager, UK)
“A lot of people are making other people aware of problems in the world, for example, the things that happen in China. I used to know nothing, but then they make a video or post of it to explain what is happening there and I think it’s very important.” (teenager, Belgium)
ySKILLS is an EC-funded research network aiming to identify the actors and factors that undermine or promote the wellbeing of children aged 12–17 in a digital age. More about ySKILLS
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