Children, Risk and Safety on the Internet

by Livingstone, Sonia; Haddon, Leslie; Gorzig, Anke

• ISBN13: 9781847428820
• ISBN10: 1847428827
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-01
• Publisher: Policy Pr

Summary

As internet use is extending to younger children, there is an increasing need for research to focus on the risks that young users are experiencing, as well as the opportunities, and how they should cope. With contributions from experts in diverse disciplines and a uniquely cross-national breadth, this timely book examines the prospect of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy by both strangers and peers. Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25,000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, it offers wholly new findings that extend previous research and counter both the optimistic and the pessimistic hyperbole. It argues that, in the main, children are gaining the digital skills, coping strategies and social support they need to navigate this fast-changing terrain. But it also identifies their struggles, pinpointing those for whom harm can follow from risky online encounters. Each chapter presents new findings and analyses to inform researchers and students in the social sciences and policy makers in government, industry or child welfare who are working to enhance children's digital experiences. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Sonia Livingstone directs the EU Kids Online networks at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK, and has authored or edited 16 books on media, audiences, children and the internet. Leslie Haddon is a senior researcher in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. He has written extensively about information and communication technologies. Anke Grzig is research fellow in social statistics at the Anna Freud Centry/University College London and was the survey research officer of EU Kids Online II at LSE.

Table of Contents

List of tables and figures	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Notes on contributors	p. xv
Theoretical framework for children's internet use	p. 1
Methodological framework: the EU Kids Online project	p. 15
Cognitive interviewing and responses to EU Kids Online survey questions	p. 33
Which children are fully online?	p. 45
Varieties of access and use	p. 59
Online opportunities	p. 73
Digital skills in the context of media literacy	p. 87
Between public and private: privacy in social networking sites	p. 99
Experimenting with the self online: a risky opportunity	p. 113
Young Europeans' online environments: a typology of user practices	p. 127
Bullying	p. 141
'Sexting': the exchange of sexual messages online among European youth	p. 151
Pornography	p. 165
Meeting new contacts online	p. 177
Excessive internet use among European children	p. 191
Coping and resilience: children's responses to online risks	p. 205
Agents of mediation and sources of safety awareness: a comparative overview	p. 219
The effectiveness of parental mediation	p. 231
Effectiveness of teachers' and peers' mediation in supporting opportunities and reducing risks online	p. 245
Understanding digital inequality: the interplay between parental socialisation and children's development	p. 257
Similarities and differences across Europe	p. 273
Mobile access: different users, different risks, different consequences?	p. 285
Explaining vulnerability to risk and harm	p. 297
Relating online practices, negative experiences and coping strategies	p. 309
Towards a general model of determinants of risk and safety	p. 323
Policy implications and recommendations: now what?	p. 339
Appendix: Key variables used in EU Kids Online analyses	p. 355
Index	p. 369
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