Children's Use of the Internet: Reflections on the Emerging Research Agenda

By Sonia Livingstone. New Media & Society, 2003

454 citations recorded by the source corpus.

As domestic access to the internet reaches the mass market in industrialized countries, this article identifies and evaluates the emerging research agenda, focusing particularly on children and young people. The nature of children's internet use generates public anxieties which both guide and undermine research, complicating the already challenging study of children within the privacy of the home. The body of empirical work reviewed is still small, but already key questions of academic and policy significance are being addressed regarding the opportunities and dangers of internet use. Such opportunities include communication, identity and participation, and education, learning and literacy; dangers arising from exclusion and the digital divide, and from certain kinds of use relating to inappropriate or undesirable contact, content and commercialism. In each of these domains, research strengths and gaps for future research are identified. The article concludes by noting areas of theoretical consensus and uncertainty framing the research agenda in this field.

Subfields: Communication, Education, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/acec55481aaea889c854019ac7feaa978dfcf6e9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Communication

In Education

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Reducing Harm From Media: A Meta-Analysis of Parental Mediation (2019, background): “Children and adolescents have been exposed to inappropriate content, undesirable contacts, and cyberbullying, which threaten their physical and psychological health (Livingstone, 2003; Livingstone & Helsper, 2008; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2007).”
The Relationship of Loneliness and Social Anxiety with Children's and Adolescents' Online Communication (2010, unknown): “1,511) mentioned before, Livingstone and Helsper (2007a) revealed a “digital divide” by age in terms of access to the Web and quality of use of the Internet.”
Coming of age with the internet (2006, background): “…for example: Buckingham, 2002; Facer and Furlong, 2001; Facer et al., 2001a, 2001b; Holloway and Valentine, 2000; Hutchby and Moran-Ellis, 2001; Livingstone, 2003; Montgomery, 2001; Ribak, 2001; Sefton-Green, 1998; Tarpley, 2001; Valentine and Holloway, 2002) although some studies have…”
Digital Inequality (2008, background): “Overall, researchers in this area have advocated that studies go beyond a focus on access to exploring in detail the nature and quality of use as well as the relevant social conditions (Livingstone, 2003).”
Cyber Bullying: An Old Problem in a New Guise? (2005, background): “Young people in Australia are increasingly using technology, with Australians known as early adopters and young people being labelled ‘the digital generation’ (Livingstone, 2003).”
Parental Awareness and Monitoring of Adolescent Internet Use (2008, background): “their primary reason for investing in the Internet ( Livingstone 2003 ).”
Adolescent Internet use: What we expect, what teens report (2004, background): “, Larson, 1995) and may not be known or understood by adults (Livingstone, 2003), such detailed data may be best provided by youth themselves, reporting on events as they occur.”
How Important Is the Digital Divide? The Relation of Computer and Videogame Usage to Gender Differences in Mental Rotation Ability (2005, background): “Many have become concerned about what has been termed the “Digital Divide.” According to Digital Divide theorists (Akhter, 2003; Barron, 2004; Drori & Jang, 2003; Livingstone, 2003 ), increasing rates of computer facilitation (related to both business and personal use) are deepening the economic an”
European research on children’s internet use: Assessing the past and anticipating the future (2018, background): “In 2003, New Media & Society published an assessment of the emerging research agenda on children’s use of the Internet, noting considerable speculation but rather few findings (Livingstone, 2003).”
Internet parenting styles and the impact on Internet use of primary school children (2010, background): “indicate the risk of consumerism and commercial exploitation (Livingstone, 2003).”