Digital media and children’s rights
The need to start as early as possible in promoting good use of digital media and technologies
Balbinot Valeria and Giorgio Tamburlini
Centro per la Salute del Bambino onlus (Center for Child Health and Development)
Trieste, Italy
The promise of digital media to transform our lives in positive ways is enormous. If managed well, technology can improve our schools and education, deepen social connectedness, expand civic engagement and even help advance our democracy. But for these positive outcomes to occur, we as a society must confront the challenges endemic in our 24/7 digital world. We need legislation, educational efforts and norms that reflect 21st-century realities to maximize the opportunities and minimize the risks for our kids. Only then will we be able to give them the safe, healthy childhood and adolescence they deserve. (Clinton and Steer, 2012).
About two decades ago, based on the recognition that given all the time kids were spending in front of the television, the nation had a collective responsibility to offer positive, educational programming with limited commercials, the US Congress passed the Children's Television Act and US pediatricians developed recommendation on limiting TV exposure for young kids. Children nowadays are growing up in a convergent media ecology whereby significant opportunities for sociability, self-expression, learning, creativity and participation are provided by online media and increasingly, mobile media (Mascheroni 2013). Digital media is affecting the way they socialize and behave, and changing the way they learn.
Arguably, the impact of the media environment on the developing brain is much greater than that of television alone. Action is therefore needed to ensure that the benefits of new technologies are not outweighed by hazards to health and development, particularly for the youngest children, since the first years of life are crucial for the cognitive emotional and social development (Shonkoff and Phillips, 2000) and the effects of early exposures and practices have a lifelong effects.
Although the impact of the new digital technologies on the developing brain has not been thoroughly explored, there is a body of research showing that an excessive digital media use can have a negative impact on physical health and psychological well-being of children and interfere with their school performance. Irresponsible use of technologies has been associated with dependency, obesity, sleep issues, aggressive behaviors and attention deficit in preschool and school-aged children (Nunez-Smith, 2008).
For what concerns the use of cell and smart phones, experts say that risks connected with an excessive use of this digital device can be strong, especially if it stays frequently in contact with sensitive parts of our body as brain and reproductive system. Compulsive cell or smart phone use in some cases may led to ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), it can cause strong headaches, tiredness, hearing disorders, anxiety and insomnia (Samkange-Zeeb, 2009). An association between an excessive use of phones and some brain tumors has recently been suggested (IARC, 2013). Parents should give the good example to their children by trying to limit the use of mobile phones in the presence of their children. When having a phone becomes essential to keep in contact with parents or friends, children should use this device possibly without the internet connection in order to avoid many other risks connected with this media. The phone must be switched off when sleeping and children should keep it distant from the body.
With respect to internet, evidence shows that there is a growing number of very young children (from 5 to 8 years old) that had internet negative experiences (Holloway, 2013) due to their inability to control the use of this media. Online risks include internet addiction, exposure to inappropriate or sexually explicit material, cyber bullying and sexting. It has also been demonstrated that an excessive internet use can reduce the attention level, compromise memory as it is not anymore used (Sparrow et al., 2011), and consequently hamper academic performance. Limiting the time spent online may led to better achievement at school.
When children grow up, the number of online activities done online necessarily increases and especially during adolescence, risks related to an irresponsible use of the internet is higher.
Internet use can be dangerous especially when young people start to social networking and they engage in experimenting with their identity. This can be problematic especially because online communication is anonymous and it makes people feel less inhibited (Valkenbourg, 2005), it leads to sexting and other bad online practices that can mine the psychological wellbeing of children and have negative consequences for their development.
This is why is very important that children start very early to have an overall understanding of the risks they can encounter while online, and adults intervene in early years by limiting children's activities on the web and by supervising them. Experts recommend to not stay online more than 4 hours per day, making many pauses in order to reduce physical problems that can be caused by staying in front of a screen for much time: principally obesity, visual and postural disorders. Limiting the time spent online keeps children away also from internet addiction and isolation.
Similarly to television, digital media can be used as babysitter for busy parents, but they may deprive children of vital activities necessary for his developing brain: above all, the fundamental opportunity to interact with parents and other family members.
Governments and in particular adults who are directly in contact with children, are responsible for child's development and they must regulate the media and communication environment. Media use should not be forbidden, but children need to be guided by parents and adults to use technologies in a correct way by limiting their exposure to them, especially in the first years of life. This is an important preventive strategy that should be used in order to increase the benefits and reduce the harm that media can have on the developing child. This guidance needs to be started as early as possible and therefore parents should receive advise from health professionals as well as educators (Brown, 2011). It is fundamental to intervene early, not only by limiting and guiding the use of digital media but also by spreading good learning and developmentally focused activities such as direct socialization, reading books, listen to music or playing sports.
Conclusions
As today children are living in a digital age that is rapidly changing, they should learn in early years how to use them wisely in order to benefit from the many opportunities that digital media and ICT may offer. When responsibly used, technologies can support cognitive development and they can represent a enjoyable way to socialize by supporting children relationship both with parents and peers. However, in order to limit the risks connected with an excessive use of the new technologies, children, and their parents, should be guided as early as possible on how to use them in a correct way. The usage of digital media and ICT should be integrated at home and in schools with books reading, real socialization, open air activities or sports.
ANNEX - Recommendations
- Since research demonstrate that the use of media devices and ICT may have a negative impact on physical health and psychological well-being of children, parents should be advised by anticipatory guidance on how to minimize risks linked to excessive and inappropriate use by children.
- Professionals working with children as educators, caretakers, and pediatricians, should all be aware of risks and benefits and they should communicate with parents on how to guide their children to a responsible and safe use of digital media and ICT.
- Since the first years children should be exposed also to more development-oriented practices such as reading books, listening to music, play games and sports.
- Digital media manufacturers should be encouraged to develop apps that encourage the interaction between children and parents, rather than leaving the child alone.
- Research to evaluate the cognitive and socio-emotional effects of intensive digital media use for young children below 8 years should be encouraged.
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