As we come to the end of our series on child rights and technology,
we take a look at some of the main themes that have emerged and our
readers’ thoughts on them. The full series can be found here.
Privacy
As GPS tracking devices for children become ever more affordable, and fingerprint scanners
replace ID cards in schools, technology is undeniably changing the
shape of privacy for a generation often referred to as ‘digital
natives’.
This is no more obvious than on Facebook. Baby pictures once confined
to the private pages of family photo albums are now shared publicly. A 2015 study by Internet company Nominet found UK children will feature in around 1,000 online photos before their fifth birthday.
What will the impacts be for a new generation whose childhood has played out on the Internet? One reader said they posted one picture of their baby on Facebook before deciding to quit the social media site completely:
We had a baby 3 and a half years ago, it took one picture of my child
posted to Facebook for me to realise that I was potentially abusing
some kind of human right of my child. I advised my partner to remove it
and we both decided just to quit Facebook altogether. I just hope that
the small bits of info we initially posted doesn't in some way crop up
in the future. Everybody I spoke thought that I was being daft, as
Facebook is just a bit of fun, but who knows what private issues may be
compromised in the future by the indiscretion of parents posting
info/photos Willy nilly on the internet, from myself being a daft 25
year old when Facebook hit its stride to how ubiquitous it is now,
there's got to be a better way to engage with 'social media'. Some of
the things I'm privy to with the way colleagues and by extension there
families attach themselves to FB etc, I'm appalled on a daily basis, if I
didn't already think I'd taken the best position at the time, I
certainly have had my prudish beliefs justified since.
However, @ursuppe thinks there’s little harm in putting baby photos online:
I can't help feeling that the harm caused by having a stranger see a
baby photo is entirely imaginary. I doubt if Princess Charlotte will sue
her parents for allowing her baby photos to be seen by millions.
Newspapers run baby pic competitions all the time and child performers
appear in all sorts of media.
Children are part of society and shouldn't be kept from it out of
what often comes across as a superstitious fear of letting any stranger
know they exist. That doesn't mean that endless child photos are
interesting, just that they don't need to be hidden from view. We were
all children sitting on potties once- the fact that the is now
photographic evidence of that doesn't matter.
Social media safety
46% of British parents worry that they don’t know what their children are doing online, according to research (pdf) commissioned for anti-virus software company Norton.
With cyerbullying on the rise, reports of drug dealers on Instagram and anonymous app Kik linked to a murder investigation, can children truly be safe online?
Social media sites are becoming more active
in protecting their users through functions like reporting tools, and
technology companies and software providers are building ever more
sophisticated parental control packages that limit which corners of the internet children can access.
We asked readers if spying on a child’s internet search history was
an effective way of keeping them safe. Reader @Mariane Bicho believes
“surveillance is never a solution”:
While I understand parent's concern to monitor their children's
online activities, I believe that endorsing such practice teaches them
that surveillance is OK, and that as long as it is done for one's own
protection, snooping is fine, which is a terrible thing to teach them.
Surveillance is never a solution. Parental controls may help with
younger children, but once they are savvy enough they'll find ways
around them.
The internet, like the middle of a busy street, can be a dangerous
place. You wouldn't let your children play there by themselves, so there
is no reason why a young child should be left alone with a computer.
Cory Doctorow recommends ways around this: rather than having personal
computers and laptops confided to the kids' rooms, have them in a
communal area so you know what you'r kids are looking at without having
to secretly spy on them. It's tricky, but people can live without their
computer in their room.
Being 19 years old I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. My parents have
never read my phone nor monitored my internet usage. I'm glad they
didn't, it is a GROSS invasion of the privacy that everyone deserves.
What they did do, is teach me to stay safe and make safe decisions.
The internet is a wonderful thing, not some dark alleyway in the back
end of no where. At the end of the day it comes down to this.
Teaching your kids is effective parenting. Arguable the most effective. Spying on your kids is lazy parenting. LAZY.
Childhood development
It’s estimated that three-quarters of UK children now spend less time outside
than prison inmates. With broadband added to the Oxford Junior
Dictionary, and beech, bluebell and buttercup dropped, there is little
doubt that childhood is changing.
Low-tech baby monitors are being swapped for hi-tech wearables that monitor a baby’s breathing and heart rate; children’s board games have evolved into smartphone apps; and Barbie now lives in a Wi-Fi enabled house. We asked readers if they felt smart toys were making parents lazy. @kidvidkid thought it was a ridiculous suggestion:
What a ridiculous headline and premise: "Will smart toys make parents lazy?"
If a parent sends a kid outide to play soccer, is the ball making the
parent lazy? If a child carries and cuddles a stuffed animal, does the
stuffie make the parent lazy?
Children's lives have room for many things, and it's up to parents to
be sure they help their children live in balance. But, to blame a toy -
from the most high-tech to the most traditional - for being engaging
and enjoyable...now THAT's lazy.
@Busymom4 advised delaying access to technology for as long as possible while stressing the need for balance:
This comment has been chosen by Guardian staff because it contributes to the debate
Hate to say it but many parents are lazy! It's easy to hand a kid a
tech gadget. My question would be is that same child going to go out and
play soccer, ride a bike, play with other kids, climb trees, build
Legos as well as play with smart toy? I agree all kids need balance.
Another problem is that very few children play with tech gadgets for
small amounts of time, and that time does end up taking time away from
other more valuable childhood activities. Parents give their kids
devices because it's easy and keeps the kid occupied, and quiet! They
don't acknowledge or know the long term effects of too much screen time
on a child's development. Parents nowadays defer to the easiest option,
giving their kids gadgets in the car, waiting rooms and at home. The
best advice I can give is delay access to tech gadgets for as long as
possible and let your child develop other REAL interests and skills. I
don't know one family that doesn't complain about the amount of time
their kids spend on screens, or regret the decision to give their kids
smartphones, etc...
Ultimately the importance of balance has played out across our whole
series on child rights and technology. While it’s true that technology
can open young people up to new dangers, Larry Magid, CEO of
ConnectSafely.org, reminds us that young people can also use it as a
force for good, writing in his December op-ed:
While social media has been linked with the radicalisation
of some teens, young people are able to use online platforms to connect
with each other, promoting understanding rather than violence and
extremism. Nobel prize winning youth activist, Malala Yousafzai, for
example, has advised social media is the easy place to start taking action against injustice.
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