Children’s Wellbeing in a Digital World

“Compared with wave 1, children are experiencing fewer of the positive effects of digital on most areas of their wellbeing. These declines are statistically significant for developmental and social wellbeing.

“While they reported experiencing slightly more of the positives on their physical wellbeing, children are also experiencing far more of the negative impacts relative to last year.

“The Index also highlights that children are experiencing less of the negative impacts on their emotional wellbeing compared with last year.”

“Across the sample, the more time children reported spending online and on social media, the greater the number of these experiences they reported having. Of the children who spend the least time on social media, only 2% reported experiencing five or more of the online harm types, rising to 22% of the quartile of children spending the most time online.”

“The first wave of the Index reported that children with SEND, physical disabilities or challenges with their mental health experienced more of the negative impacts of digital technology on their wellbeing. This trend continues this year, and these children are also more likely to have had potentially harmful experiences online, including seeing something they think isn’t true, experiencing bullying or receiving unwanted sexual attention from a stranger. Compared with the 9-15-year-olds sample, vulnerable children who have had these experiences are more likely to report that these experiences have a severe negative effect on them.”

“Children whose index scores aligned with their parents’ experienced notably more of the positive impacts of digital technology, with statistically significant differences seen in each dimension of wellbeing. This is especially true for using the internet to learn new sport skills, using apps to help them stay healthy, meeting people online who become good friends, finding people online they admire and look up to, feeling more comfortable with being themselves due to being online, and enabling them to find new hobbies.”