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The positive role of the internet

Young people recognise the positive role of the internet in relation to self-expression, developing understanding, bringing people together and respecting and celebrating differences.

• 47% of young people use technology to support and promote respect and kindness (e.g., liking or sharing someone else’s post, posting supportive comments and signing an online petition).’

Impact of social media

As children get older social media takes centre stage particularly as they make the transition from primary to secondary school.

• Research suggests that children believe social media can have a positive effect on children’s wellbeing, and enabled them to do the things they wanted to do, like staying in touch with friends and keeping entertained. On the other hand, it had a negative influence when it made them worry about things they had little control over

According to Ofcom research children listed the following as their top concerns:

• Too many online ads (particularly for 8 – 11-year-olds)
• Spending too much time on social media
• The Nature of how some people were nasty and unkind on social media

Exposure to upsetting content

• Children said they were most likely to come across upsetting content on video sharing sites like YouTube and social media sites.

What do parents say about children’s digital use?

Key concerns

Parents highlight the following concerns about the potential of harm the online world can expose their children to:

• Talking to strangers
• Sharing personal information with strangers
• Impact of social media on child’s mental wellbeing

What do parents want to better support children?

• To understand what parental controls are and how to use them
• More support on the Language and tone to adopt when speaking to own children
• A clear destination for online safety information
• Greater support from schools to reinforce the message

Source: Parenting Digital Natives (2018)

Challenges to managing screen time 

Although two-thirds of 12-15s (67%) agree that they have a good balance between screen time and doing other things, and more than half of 12-15s disagree that they find it hard to control their screen time (53%).

Source: Ofcom Children and parents media use 2017

What do experts say about screen time? 

How we should view screen time now

“…rather than worrying about the catch-all notion of ‘screen time’ it might be better to focus on whether, when and why particular digital activities help or harm individual children.”

Source:  Sonia Livingstone

The idea of screen time as a one-dimensional activity is changing -The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens identifies four main categories of screen time.

• Passive consumption: watching TV, reading, and listening to music
• Interactive consumption: playing games and browsing the Internet
• Communication: video-chatting and using social media
• ​Content creation: using devices to make digital art or music

Source: Common Sense Media

What are children were doing online?

Ofcom stats of what they are doing – children are doing different things when they are in front of a screen:

• 96% watch TV for 15 hours a week
• 40% play games on a screen for 6 hours a week
• 53% go online for 8 hours a week
• 48% watch YouTube