Youth and digital media Course: Youth Development 2021 David Šmahel, Masaryk University irtis.muni.cz Overview • Developmental context of online behavior • EU Kids Online project • Internet access • Online activities • Digital skills • Negative experiences online • Looking at sexual images and sexting • Harmful online content • Excessive internet use • Conclusions • Children’s and adolescents’ usage of the internet is associated with their developmental needs (Subrahmanyam & Smahel, 2011) • Identity development • Sexuality and intimacy • Friendships and relationships • Well-being and health issues • We need the developmental perspective if we look what children do online. Online risks and opportunities: the developmental perspective How are digital media used in the context of youth development? Are digital media supporting the development? Are digital media dangerous for youth? Online risks and opportunities: the developmental perspective • Children are not passive recipients of the online content but they co-construct the online world (Greenfield, Subrahmanyam, & Smahel, 2006) • They are co-creators of the online world • Same experience might be risky, but it could also fulfill children’s developmental needs – such as meeting online strangers • Media typically focus only on the online risks and the danger, but they do not mention the positives and the natural developmental needs of children About EU Kids Online survey • Data from EU Kids Online surveys: • data collected in 25 countries in 2010 • data collected in 19 countries from 9/2017- 8/2019 • Representative samples of 1000+ children • Data collected by random walk in households or in preselected schools (quota sampling of schools) + Online panel (France) • Children 9 to 17 years (here mostly 9 – 16 years or 12 - 16) • EU Kids Online report: Smahel, D., Machackova, H., Mascheroni, G., Dedkova, L., Staksrud, E., Ólafsson, K., Livingstone, S., and Hasebrink, U. (2020). EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries. EU Kids Online. https://doi.org/10.21953/lse.47fdeqj01ofo EU Kids Online theoretical model Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., & Staksrud, E. (2018). European research on children’s internet use: Assessing the past and anticipating the future. New Media & Society, 20(3), 1103–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816685930 Internet access • How often do you go online or use the internet using the following devices? • In 2010, the number of children going online from their mobile phones ranged from 31% in Norway to only 2% of children in Romania. • In 8 years, the percentage of children using a smartphone to access the internet in all comparable countries has increased substantially, rising from 31% to 85% in Norway and from 2% to 84% in Romania. Frequency of smartphone access • How often do you go online or use the internet using the following devices? A mobile phone or smartphone. • In most countries, girls are more likely to access the internet from their smartphones several times a day than boys (6-12%)– the higher difference between boys and girls being in Malta (11%) and Norway (12%) Daily Online activities Daily Online activities Daily Online activities Daily Online activities Daily Online activities Frequency of playing online games, by country Digital skills (12 – 16 years) Mascheroni, G., Cino, D., Mikuška, J., Lacko, D., & Šmahel, D. (2020). Digital skills, risks and wellbeing among European children. Report on (f)actors that explain online acquisition, cognitive, physical, psychological and social wellbeing, and the online resilience of children and young people. KU Leuven, Leuven: ySKILLS. Digital skills (12 – 16 years) The antecedents of digital skills The antecedents of digital skills Overall negative online experiences • In the PAST YEAR, has anything EVER happened online that bothered or upset you in some way (e.g., made you feel upset, uncomfortable, scared or that you shouldn’t have seen it)? • Broad range of bothering experiences: • being exposed to online sexual content • aggressive content • other types of unwanted content • inappropriate contacts • online harassment and bullying • hacking • sharing personal information • damage to reputation • viruses, spam, pop-ups, and online advertisements • online by technical problems (internet not working or slow) Percentage of children who answered yes. Frequency of negative online experiences in the past year • In the PAST YEAR, how often did this happen? [In the PAST YEAR, has anything EVER happened online that bothered or upset you in some way.] Seeing sexual images & sexting Is seeing sexual images and sexting supporting the youths development? Is it rather dangerous? Seeing sexual images (9 – 16) • In the PAST YEAR, you have seen lots of different images – pictures, photos, videos. Sometimes, these images might be obviously sexual, e.g., they may show people naked or people having sex. You might never have seen anything like this, or you may have seen something like this on a mobile phone, in a magazine, on the TV, on a DVD or on the internet. The next few questions ask you about things like this. Seeing sexual images Reactions to seeing sexual images • Thinking of the LAST TIME you have seen images of this kind, how did you feel about it? Sexting In the PAST YEAR, have you EVER RECEIVED any sexual messages? This could be words, pictures or videos. In the PAST YEAR, how often, if ever, have you SENT or POSTED any sexual MESSAGES (words, pictures or videos) in the following ways? Harmful content • In the PAST YEAR, have you seen online content or online discussions where people talk about or show any of these things? • Ways of physically harming or hurting themselves • Ways of committing suicide • Ways to be very thin • Hate messages that attack certain groups or individuals • Their experiences of taking drugs • Gory or violent images Harmful content Harmful content Mascheroni, G., Cino, D., Mikuška, J., Lacko, D., & Šmahel, D. (2020). Digital skills, risks and wellbeing among European children. Report on (f)actors that explain online acquisition, cognitive, physical, psychological and social wellbeing, and the online resilience of children and young people. KU Leuven, Leuven: ySKILLS. Harmful content Discussion: What to do with harmful content? • Children are exposed online to both, positive and negative content – it is important how they cope with the negative one • The exposure to harmful content is associated with children’s emotional problems, sensation seeking • Effects of parental mediation are low. Making restrictions does not work! • We should teach children about different kinds of content and teach them how to evaluate the quality of the content Excessive internet use / Online addiction Does addiction on the internet exist? Excessive internet use • Excessive internet use is associated with individual characteristics, such as emotional problems, poor self-esteem, neuroticism, high novelty seeking, problematic offline behaviour, etc. (Cao & Su’s, 2007; Ko, 2006) • How many children are at risk of excessive internet use in different countries • What is the development from 2010 to 2018 • Associations of excessive internet use Griffiths (2000) six components Salience, when the activity becomes the most important thing in an individual’s life; Mood change, or euphoria, subjective experiences are significantly affected by the activity; Tolerance, the process of requiring continually higher doses of the activity to achieve the original sensations; Withdrawal symptoms, negative feelings and sensations which occur when unable to perform the activity Conflict, usually with the individuals closest social surroundings (family), i.e. significant decrease in school results or dropping out; Relapse and reinstatement, the tendency to return to the damaging activity even after periods of relative control. Excessive internet use Excessive internet use Factor present = children answered daily or weekly to the relevant item Excessive internet use: children who experienced at least one criterion of excessive internet use, by gender and age Excessive internet use: comparison 2010 x 2018 Discussion: the developmental perspective • Access and usage: children have internet in mobile phones – they can communicate even more with their friends • Communication with friends and romantic partners (both offline and online) is in line with children’s developmental needs • Looking at sexual images and sexting as part of adolescents’ sexual development • Gaming and SNS: environments for social relationships • We should teach children how to behave in a safe way both offline and online General conclusions • Online and offline worlds are interconnected and children use technology in line with their development • Current technologies allow children to be more and more cocreators of the online world (use SNS, create videos etc.) • Many online activities can be beneficial for children’s development but might be also risky • Children should learn how to avoid online risks and how to cope with risks if they experience them • Cross-culture differences! Thank you for your attention email: smahel@fss.muni.cz irtis.muni.cz