Children's Use of the Internet: Reflections on the Emerging Research Agenda

Abstract

As domestic access to the internet reaches the mass market in industrialised countries, this article identifies and evaluates the emerging research agenda, focusing particularly on children and young people. The nature of children's use of the internet generates public anxieties which both guides and undermines research, complicating the already challenging study of children within the privacy of the home. The body of empirical work reviewed is still small, but already key questions of academic and policy significance are being addressed regarding the opportunities and dangers of internet use. Such opportunities include communication, identity and participation, and education, learning and literacy; dangers arise from exclusion and the digital divide, and from certain kinds of use relating to inappropriate or undesirable contact, content and commercialism. In each of these domains, the research strengths and gaps for future research are identified. The article concludes by noting areas of theoretical consensus and uncertainty that frame the research agenda in this field.

Strategies of parental regulation in the media-rich home

“…Subrahmanyam et al (2001) raises the further issue, not of how family dynamics mediate computer use but instead of how computer use mediates family relationships. As Kraut et al (1998) found, in the early days of internet adoption, greater use of the internet was associated with subsequent declines in family communication although subsequent findings have challenged this conclusion (Livingstone, 2003).…”

Causes and Trends of the Digital Divide

“…on different levels of access to modern computers and Internet technology. Generally, studies dealing with the second-level digital divide, that is how and for what purposes people use computers and the Internet, point out how difficult it is to study this 'technological black box' (see Attewell, 2001;Natriello, 2001;Livingstone, 2003). Unfortunately, the GSOEP does not contain measures on user profiles either.…”

O uso das TIC na educação e a promoção de inclusão social: uma perspectiva crítica do Reino Unido

“…Entretanto, na realidade, o uso dessas tecnologias pelas pessoas prevalece muito menos do que esses entusiastas imaginam. De fato, embora os aplicativos da internet possam muito bem estar profundamente embutidos no tecido social da classe média e nas vidas tecnologicamente privilegiadas dos acadêmicos e de seus filhos, para muitos jovens, a internet continua claramente constituindo uma "mídia frá-gil", usada (quando é usada) de modos muito mais limitados, esporá-dicos e geralmente conservadores (Livingstone, 2003). Assim, apesar do prestígio de que esses aplicativos gozam nas mentes e imaginações de alguns acadêmicos e formuladores de políticas, são poucas as pessoas que criam e mantêm seus próprios sites, escrevem e atualizam seus próprios blogs e participam ativamente de comunidades virtuais (OXIS, 2007).…”