September 2024
Referencing this document
Digital Child (2024), Digital Childhoods in Australia - A Landscape Report, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, Brisbane, Australia, http://doi.org/10.5204/rep.eprints.251656
© Copyright 2024. The Digital Child. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This report draws on discussions at the Digital Childhoods Summit, which was held in Canberra on June 13-14 in 2024. The Summit focused in on the themes of safety, inclusion, health & wellbeing, and futures during two days in Canberra. Reflections from each component are incorporated in this report.
This report has been prepared to share with the 77 attendees of the Digital Childhoods Summit and organisations focused on the wellbeing and safety of children in the digital world. It highlights key issues and recommendations made by attendees during roundtable discussions at the Summit, which were recorded by scribes using Chatham House rules.
With international and domestic discussions on banning children and young people from social media, this report is a timely contribution that aims to inform stakeholders working with and for children in Australia.
The Digital Child is supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence funding scheme (#CE200100022).
We acknowledge the First Australian owners of the lands on which we gather and work, and pay our respects to the Elders, lores, customs, and creation spirits of this country.
We thank the children who contributed artwork and videos to the Summit, including: Alex, Ari, Ava, Caleb, Ella, Elodie, Esther, Felix, Finn, Fox, Harper, Jamie, Luka, Madi, Maggie, Maria, Mila, Miller, Noah, Oscar, and Ramona.
Purpose—1
Organisations in attendance—3
Discussion summary—4
What’s happening in the sector?—6
Searching for a better digital future—9
Staying safe online—10
Disparities in access—12
Wellbeing and digital technology—14
Next steps—17
Act for Kids
Advocate for Children and Young People, NSW
Alannah & Madeline Foundation
ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Council of Learned Academies
Australian Federal Police
Australian Library and Information Association
Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth
Black Dog Institute
C&K
CareerTrackers
Child Fund Australia
Children & Young People Commission
Community Early Learning Australia
Day of AI Australia
Department of Education
Department of Health
Department of Health And Aged Care
Department of Infrastructure
Early Learning & Care Council of Australia
Emerging Minds Australia
Good Things Foundation
Health and Wellbeing Queensland
Life Without Barriers/AAFIE
Meta Australia
Museum of Australian Democracy
NAPCAN
National Centre For Action On Child Sexual Abuse
National Film & Sound Archive of Australia
National Mental Health Commission
Netsafe
Office of the Commissioner for Children and Young People Tasmania
Office of the eSafety Commissioner
Orygen, University of Melbourne
Preventive Health SA
PROJECT ROCKIT
ReachOut Australia
SNAICC
Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia
State Library of Queensland
TalkiPlay
Telethon Kids Institute
Telstra Foundation
The Smith Family
UNICEF Australia
yourtown
Safety Age restrictions to social media may cut children off from support, resources, and networks that benefit them. Bans step away from properly supporting children in the digital world, and may lead to reduced investment in children who need it.
What age is the right age? Do we have the evidence to determine the appropriate cut-off age for children and young people for different parts of the digital world?
Inclusion
Health & Wellbeing
Digital connection is important for building community and access for children and young people from vulnerable groups.
Mainstream shift to digital services is a challenge. Accessing key resources such as MyGov and Medicare is already a challenge for families with low digital literacy skills and limited internet access.
Making evidence-based decisions. Balancing uncertain health costs of technologies against potential for accessible and potent benefits.
Binary thinking about use or non-use of technology inhibits useful blended solutions.
Safety We have safety standards for children’s physical toys. How can that be extended to regulation of digital spaces?
Creating informed consent around collection and use of data.
Inclusion
Health & Wellbeing
Resources are needed to support digital access and literacy. Local libraries are the helpdesk for entire communities in regional and remote areas.
Digital connection is important for building community and access for children and young people with disabilities.
Many apps and websites don’t meet existing guidelines for accessibility.
The data footprint of children starts early and grows exponentially.
Heightening digital literacy is critical to prevent influence of misinformation.
Safety Share evidence, tools, and approaches with communities and across government, industry, and academia.
Work with industry to discover the technical solutions to the challenge of assuring safety.
Inclusion Need to partner with families and communities to create solutions that they want and need.
Collaborating across the sector will help identify and address gaps in access.
Health & Wellbeing
Commit to co-design. Children and young people are the experts on their own needs and requirements.
Continue to build networks that support projects that support authentic collaboration between partners to understand how digital technologies affect wellbeing.
Examples of how the sector is supporting children and young people.
eSmart by the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation: Supporting students, educators and families to build essential digital skills to develop a generation of safe and strong digital citizens.
Find out more.
eSafety Commissioner: eSafety provides advice, support and resources for parents, educators and children. They also provide an Early Years program focused on online safety for young Australians.
Netsafe: An animated series launched in New Zealand for 5-10 year olds on online safety, teacher resources, and conversation guides.
Find out more.
Online safety hub by UNICEF Australia: Resources for parents and teachers protecting children and young people online.
Find out more.
PROJECT ROCKIT: Improving young people’s lives through antibullying workshops delivered in school across Australia.
Find out more.
The National Mental Health Commission (the Commission) is leading a research project to examine the nature of children and young people’s engagement with digital technologies.
The research will explore what contributes to positive, negative, or neutral effects of digital technologies on child and youth mental health, and how these experiences differ across various cohorts. It will also consider the policy or legislative responses being used around to the world to accentuate the positive effects and/or mitigate the negative effects of digital technology use.
To support this work, the Commission is collaborating with a number of Commonwealth government agencies who have expertise in health, mental health, children and youth, education and online safety. The research is intended to provide a solid evidence-base that can be used for future policy responses whether undertaken by government or non-government organisations.
The research project is expected to commence in October 2024, with findings anticipated for release in 2025-26.
Children with a serious illness or chronic health condition often experience long lengths of stay in hospital, or frequent hospital admissions and periods of isolated recovery at home. Captain Starlights work in major paediatric hospitals across Australia to positively transform the hospital experience.
Planet Starlight was created in collaboration with over 80 hospitalised kids and parents as an extension of the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s face-to-face programs. rHospitalised and sick children said they wanted live interaction and to feel a sense of recognition and agency, achievement, and belonging or connection to community.
Planet Starlight is a website designed specifically to meet the needs of those sick and hospitalised kids. One of the most important elements is the delivery of four interactive livestreamed shows per day. A bespoke built interaction box means that the shows are deeply interactive and child-led, meaning kids feel really seen, heard and part of something special and fun.
Young kids can build a sense of community via the liveshows, with long-term users getting to know each other’s interests and personalities. Very young children generally have parents communicating on their behalf or limit their communication to the graphical communication tools. Kids also use native voice-to-text and other tools to interact where needed. Other features of Planet Starlight are the Earth Museum of Awesomeness, a gallery displaying arts and crafts and anything else that a child is proud of that they submit to the site and the Play Space featuring a range of games and activities designed to be accessible in a hospital setting.
Stakeholder feedback and program data say that Planet Starlight:
• cultivates positive emotions
• achieves high levels of engagement
• encourages positive relationships
• supports meaning and purpose for children
• promotes feelings of accomplishment
• successfully achieves these outcomes in a digital format.
Autcraft: Digital play dates on Minecraft to enable children with autism build social skills and find community.
Find out more.
Swipe Safe by the ChildFund
ReachOut Australia: Support for young people, parents and carers, and schools. A digital place to chat and get support to help young people feel better.
Find out more.
TalkiPlay: Speech and language support for children. Researchbacked method for helps children practice speech development.
Australia: Supporting children and young people to build their own self-protective skills and capabilities, while also strengthening their protective environment.
Find out more.
Find out more.
Our Place by the Victorian Government: Tailored education, health and wellbeing services, creating an integrated community resource that supports children and families to succeed.
Find out more.
Digital Child stories with the 360: Topical articles by experts on a range of issues, including sleep and digital technology and use of baby apps.
Find out more.
Young people speaking on the Futures panel at the Summit discussed how the digital world works alongside the ‘real’ one. These panellists saw digital tools as supportive of – not replacing – real-world experiences. They likened it to a “bionic arm” that enhances life.
The young people said that they and their peers were not oblivious to the problems posed by the digital world. They advocated for respecting and seeking out young people’s voices, acknowledging their ability to self-regulate, and their growing interest in self-help and achieving digital balance.
When it came to younger children, they focused on what it would take to prepare the next generation. Panellists discussed educating children on safe device use from a young age to help form positive habits and promote media literacy. They said adults must engage with children in children’s spaces, through mediums they enjoy.
Finally, the young people discussed how young people in general strongly value mentoring one another. They argued that adults should provide young people and children with relatable role models, especially role models who were within five years of their age group. Young people could be instrumental in creating a positive digital future for children.
When it comes to children’s online safety, change is underway. Recent Australian initiatives including the reviews of the Privacy Act1 and the Online Safety Act23 represent potential progress in supporting the best interests of the child. These legislative efforts signal a positive shift toward better safeguarding personal data and ensuring online security. However, there is still a significant need for ongoing work and advocacy at all levels - government, industry, and community - to fully realise these objectives.
Current public discussion on online safety for children focuses on restricting or banning children and young people from different platforms, rather than holding social media companies, or the broader technology sector, accountable for unsafe practices and poor design. Attendees argued we should shift the focus towards holding companies to account - namely, the specific social media companies responsible for misuse and unsafe design. Implementing universal service obligations could be one viable solution, setting minimum standards for both design and access to ensure a safer digital environment. By enforcing these standards and listening to the needs of people with lived experience45, we could better protect all users, particularly vulnerable populations like children and young people, from online risks.
• Managing online spaces: Bans and age verification methods are not robust solutions to managing the dilemmas posed by digital technologies and services. We should seek to understand what safety looks like for children and young people, and better regulate digital device and service providers.
• Safety by design: Parental controls are currently the predominant answer to managing the shortcomings of digital technologies. This solution is insufficient and unsustainable because of the heavy burden placed on families. Instead, we should require children’s safety to be built in by the provider of the device, service, or infrastructure.6
• Balance in regulation: Being online brings a range of benefits to the lives of children and young people. We need a balanced approach to regulation that recognises these positives. This approach should be co-designed with children and young people.
1 Reset Australia, January 2024, Best Interests and Targeting: Implementing the Privacy Act Review to advance children’s rights, https://au.reset.tech/uploads/Best-Interests-Report-240128-digital.pdf
2 Online Safety expectations to boost transparency and accountability for digital platforms, May 2024, https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/rowland/media-release/online-safety-expectations-boost-transparency-and-accountability-digital-platforms
3 Parliamentary Library (Australia), August 2024, Children’s online safety legislation and regulations: a backgrounder, https:// apo.org.au/node/328017
4 eSafety Commissioner, June 2024, Tipping the balance - LGBTIQ+ teens’ experience negotiating connection, self-expression and harm online, https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-06/Tipping-the-balance-June-2024.pdf?v=1718421941574
5 Australian mental health focused organisations working with young people, July 2024, Youth Mental Health and Social Media
- Joint statement, https://nest.greenant.net/s/BnytfFSpFFRMDan
6 eSafety Commissioner, April 2024, Safety by Design, https://www.esafety.gov.au/industry/safety-by-design
• Bans could mean that children who inevitably circumvent the barriers don’t receive support if problems occur
• What age is the right age? Difficult to determine the appropriate cut-off date for children and young people.
• We have safety standards for children’s physical toys. How can that be extended to regulation of digital spaces?
• Creating informed consent around collection and use of data.
• Share evidence, tools, and approaches with communities and across government, industry, and academia. Let’s amplify work rather than duplicate it.
• Work with industry to discover whether there are technical solutions to the challenge of assuring safety.
• Netsafe – animated series launched in New Zealand for 5-10 year olds on online safety, teacher resources, and conversation guides.
• ChildFund Australia Swipe Safe program – undergoing process of adapting existing faceto-face programs focused on children, families, frontline workers. Have been scaling an app throughout Asia-Pacific region (available to Australia in August/September) to support children to enact protective digital behaviours. Currently looking at ways to collect data and measure behaviour change.
• eSafety Commisioner - resourcces and advice for children, families, and educators.
Children need appropriate access to technology early in their lives, starting at home, in early childhood education and care settings, and primary school. Public schools in states and territories have a range of policies around provision of devices, but often leave it to parents and carers to supply their children’s technology. This can place a burden on families in terms of requesting or seeking assistance in the context of uncertain digital literacy and competency. A more effective system would proactively identify those in need and develop a systematic approach to device distribution and to the additional supports that might be needed to ensure a benefit for children.
We know there are deep disparities in access to digital technologies across Australia.12 These disparities require solutions that go beyond providing devices. Efforts to understand and address digital inclusion matters need to be collaborative and should include access to digital networks as an essential service.
• Digital is part of everyday life: Access to devices and networks is not uniform. In remote and regional communities and low socio-economic communities, people seek out digital connections, so their children do not get left behind.
• When it comes to access for Indigenous communities strength-based approaches are essential: To create enduring, impactful benefits in this space, we need Indigenous-led projects as well as community-based partnerships and consultations.3
• Understanding barriers in out of home care: Carers currently bear responsibility for managing digital technology, despite limited policies and resources. Complex circumstances and a lack of uniform services means that children lack consistent access to digital tools. This impacts education, social connection, and sense of identity.
1 Australian Digital Inclusion Index, 2023, Digital inclusion: The Australian Context in 2023, https://www.digitalinclusionindex. org.au/digital-inclusion-the-australian-context-in-2023/
2 Australian Digital Inclusion Index, 2023, Case study: Mapping the Digital Gap - digital inclusion in remote First Nations communities, https://www.digitalinclusionindex.org.au/case-study-mapping-the-digital-gap-digital-inclusion-in-remote-first-nations-communities/
3 Shay, Marnee, Cobbo, Fred, Sarra, Grace., and Kettle, Margaret, February 2024, ‘It’s about making our children feel proud’: how schools can learn about local Indigenous language and culture, https://theconversation.com/its-about-making-our-childrenfeel-proud-how-schools-can-learn-about-local-indigenous-language-and-culture-223463
• Resources needed to support digital access and literacy. Local libraries are the helpdesk for entire communities in regional and remote areas.
• Digital connection is important for building community and access for children and young people with disabilities.
• Many apps and websites do not meet guidelines for accessibility.
• Accessing key resources on MyGov, Medicare etc is a challenge for families with low digital literacy skills and no internet access.
• Need to partner with families and communities to create solutions that they want and need.
• Collaborating across the sector will help identify and address gaps in access.
• My Digital Backpacklife - Digital tools for foster children and carers
• Our Place – Victorian initiative for community engagement and consultation
Digital technologies have facilitated increased access to mental health support and other pathways to wellbeing. Self-help and guided support for mental and physical health can supplement real-world specialists. These approaches are important given the ongoing challenges faced by those trying to access allied health staff and extensive waitlists for services around Australia. Children and young people are telling us that they need guidance on how best to use digital technologies in these spaces.1 Health professionals also need improved digital literacy skills.
Use of digital platforms for health and wellbeing can pose complex questions related to safety. Digital identities including health status and history, behaviours, and attainments can now be tracked over the long term, and potentially across the life course. Amassed data could be used in the future in unanticipated or prejudicial ways that impact current children, e.g. insurance assessments. Privacy needs to be prioritised to prevent misuse.
• Social media and mental health: Social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube serve as significant avenues for seeking mental health and wellbeing support. Young users actively seek credible and trustworthy resources amidst a sea of content, indicating a proactive approach to their mental health needs. The tension between wellbeing benefits and costs of social media in its current form pose a challenge for promoting balanced use. As does the difficulty of assessing each child’s readiness to access specific digital platforms.
• Co-design and accessibility: Young people will always be ahead of the curve. There is a strong emphasis on co-designing mental health services, supports, and resources with young people to ensure engagement, effectiveness, and accessibility.2
• Participation by parents and carers: Concerns about harmful content and the negative impact of social media on issues like eating disorders highlight the need for parental guidance and active participation rather than strict policing.3
1 Australian mental health focused organisations working with young people, July 2024, Youth Mental Health and Social Media
- Joint statement, https://nest.greenant.net/s/BnytfFSpFFRMDan
2 Collaborative submission from ReachOut, Beyond Blue and Black Dog Institute, July 2024, Inquiry into social media impacts on Australian society, https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Sub168_ReachOut-Beyonce-BlueBDI.pdf
3 UNICEF Australia, 2024, How to help your teen navigate social media, https://www.unicef.org.au/parent-teacher-resources/ online-safety/social-media#
• Binary thinking about use or non-use of technology inhibits useful, blended solutions
• Data footprint of children starts early and grows
• Heightening digital literacy to prevent influence of misinformation
• Commit to co-design. Children and young people are the experts on their own needs and requirements.
• Continue to build networks that support projects that support authentic collaboration between partners to understand how digital technologies affect wellbeing
• TalkiPlay - Speech and language support for children.
• AutCraft - Digital play dates on Minecraft to enable children with autism build social skills and find community
• Planet Starlight – entertainment and distraction, connection for seriously ill children
Children’s wellbeing online is a priority for multiple stakeholders. Among these stakeholders there are different perspectives and approaches to the topic, although we all agree that children should benefit from online spaces.
Tackling this issue will require multi-institution and -agency approaches that cover the following areas.
Research
• More evidence that directly addresses key and emerging problems, including:
• social media’s impact on young children
• impact of how experiences in early childhood shape future relationships with technology later in life
• mechanisms by which individuals are at a increased risk of harm
• true costs and benefits of digital technologies for families and education
Policy
• Multi-sector engagement on emerging policies that centre around young children and digital technologies.
• More explicit discussion with children and young people to ensure their right to participate in decision-making on policies and frameworks that affect them.
Practice
• Share evidence, tools, resources, and approaches across the sector to build collective capacity and showcase a range of evidence-based and age-appropriate practices
• Collaboration amongst organisations in the sector to ensure we combine our efforts and drive clear and unified messages for public audiences. This might include joint submissions, campaigns, and future events.
