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Growing
up Digital
Anne Longfield OBE is the Children’s Commissioner
for England and recently published a Growing Up
Digital report. Anne tells Primary Times why she
believes the internet can be a huge force for good...
Like many other parents, I’ve had to adapt
quickly to the internet and the growth of social
media. I grew up in a world where Google,
Instagram, Facebook and Twitter weren’t part
of everyday life - as they are today for millions
of children.
I believe the internet can be a huge force for
good. The digital world gives children the kind
of amazing opportunities I could never have
imagined when I was a child. It offers them a
chance to learn, to explore and to engage with
others. My 5 year old nephew has been deftly
handling his parents’ tablet for years – as
everyday as any household object he has
grown up with. But as parents we do worry.
We often feel out of our depth or unsure about
the impact the internet is having on our
children’s lives, on their friendships and on their
childhood development. While mums and dads
must be the first line of protection against the
potential online dangers, there is much more
that can be done to support them.
Earlier this year I published a report called
“Growing Up Digital”, following a year-long
study by a group of experts with expertise in
areas like media law, online bullying, safety
and children’s digital use. Our panel included
Baroness Beeban Kidron, who set up the
5Rights project to campaign for better digital
rights for children, and Liam Hackett founder
of the anti-bullying organisation Ditch The
Label. We listened to the experiences of
children and parents and set out a range of
ideas about how we could give children the
three most important skills they need to get
the most out of the internet: resilience,
information and power.
I know many parents are concerned we
aren’t giving children the skills they need to
navigate their way through the new digital
world. Kids are spending longer online and
recent studies suggest almost a third of 15
year olds have sent a naked photo of
themselves at least once. Over a third of 12-15
year olds have seen hateful content directed at
a particular group of people in the last year.
Often parents are focussed on chatroom
safety and the fear of “strangers” and
“grooming”, while children themselves are
more worried about online bullying and
inappropriate pictures of themselves appearing
on social media. For example, it’s clear from
‘Growing Up Digital’ that young people don’t
feel they have control over their social media
lives. They’re
agreeing to social
media terms and
conditions despite them being so long and
complex that they could never be expected to
really understand them fully. It means they are
giving up their right to privacy and even
allowing the content they post – pictures
usually – to be sold by the social media giants,
if they wanted to.
As part of our study, we asked some young
people whether they understood the terms of
Instagram. Many parents will know that their
children use Instagram to share pictures, often
of themselves. It’s used by more than half of
12-to-15 year olds and one in four 8-to-11
year olds who say that they have a social
media account.
The younger children we showed the terms
and conditions to were unable to read more
than half of the 17 pages of text, and none of
them fully understood what they were
committing themselves to when they clicked
‘accept’. When we asked an expert in privacy
law to simplify them so children could
understand them, many were shocked by what
they read.
We also looked into children’s experiences
of reporting problems on social media sites.
We found that many simply have no idea how
to report unacceptable content or behaviour
– and even when they do, they are usually not
happy with the action that’s taken. So we are
calling on social media companies to rewrite
their terms and conditions so children can
understand them and can then make informed
decisions about what they’re signing up to.
I hope the Government will implement
legislation to protect children’s privacy and
data online. And I would also like to extend my
powers so the Children’s Commissioner is able
to oversee the number and the types of
complaints that the social media companies
are receiving from children.
‘Growing Up Digital’ calls for a Digital
Ombudsman, a mediator to act between
children and the social media giants, similar to
the role which works well in Australia. The
Ombudsman would be an independent person
who can help children to have content
removed from sites if they are unhappy with a
picture or a post that invades their privacy, is
used without their consent or is used
as part of online bullying.
It’s also important to make sure that children
are taught about their rights and responsibilities
online from an early age. The internet is a part
of every child’s life, so it makes sense for all
four-to-fourteen year olds to learn how to get
the best out of it, while also avoiding some of
the dangers. This obligatory part of the
curriculum would include what it means to be
a responsible citizen online, how to protect
their rights online, how to respect others’ rights
online, and how to both disengage and
engage with the online world. As younger
children want to learn these skills but
sometimes feel uncomfortable talking to
teachers and parents about the internet and
would rather talk to people their own age,
digital citizenship should involve older children
who younger kids are more likely to trust.
It’s so important children are better
educated about the internet, understand what
they’re agreeing to when they join social media
platforms and that their privacy is better
protected. Nobody wants their children
roaming around in a world for which they aren’t
prepared. We wouldn’t let a child roam around
the ‘offline’ world without teaching them the
skills to do so first. So it’s time we did more to
prepare children for a digital world that has
limited regulation and which is controlled by a
small number of powerful organisations.
Technology is developing at a rapid pace.
When it was created 25 years ago, the internet
was designed with adults in mind - but it’s now
up to all of us to make sure it is a better and
safer place for children by giving them the
information, the power and the resilience they
need to thrive.
For more information about the ‘Growing Up
Digital’ report visit www.childrenscommissioner.
gov.uk/publications/growing-digital
For more information on the 5Rights Project:
http://5rightsframework.com
For more information about the anti-bullying
charity Ditch The Label: www.ditchthelabel.org
The Children’s Commissioner for England
wants to hear from children about where
they live, the important people in their lives,
how they spend their time and what they
would do if they were in charge of the world
or their school. If your child would like to take
part visit https://live.firstnews.co.uk/our-lives/
View the magazine online at www.primarytimes.net/essex
Primary Times, North & Mid Essex • Easter Holiday 2017
27