Children, Risk and Safety on the Internet

As internet use is extending to younger children, there is an increasing need for research to focus on the risks that young users are experiencing, as well as the opportunities, and how they should cope. With contributions from experts in diverse disciplines and a uniquely cross-national breadth, this timely book examines the prospect of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy by both strangers and peers. Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25,000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, it offers wholly new findings that extend previous research and counter both the optimistic and the pessimistic hyperbole. It argues that, in the main, children are gaining the digital skills, coping strategies and social support they need to navigate this fast-changing terrain. But it also identifies their struggles, pinpointing those for whom harm can follow from risky online encounters. Each chapter presents new findings and analyses to inform researchers and students in the social sciences and policy makers in government, industry or child welfare who are working to enhance children's digital experiences. Book jacket.

Sonia Livingstone directs the EU Kids Online networks at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK, and has authored or edited 16 books on media, audiences, children and the internet. Leslie Haddon is a senior researcher in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. He has written extensively about information and communication technologies. Anke Grzig is research fellow in social statistics at the Anna Freud Centry/University College London and was the survey research officer of EU Kids Online II at LSE.