Research updates

Do parents know about their child’s online risks?

21st October 2020

Netsafe’s latest research provides insights from a study looking at New Zealand parents’, caregivers’ and whānau perceptions of children’s experiences of online risk and harm. It is the third report from Ngā taiohi matihiko o Aotearoa – New Zealand Kids Online, Netsafe’s implementation of the Global Kids Online methodology, and the first to look at parents’ perspectives of the challenges their children navigate online.

New comparative findings: what have we learned?

31st July 2020

Technologies are not beneficial or harmful all by themselves. Much depends on how technologies are designed, deployed and promoted by businesses and the state, on how parents interact with children in relation to digital contents and services at home, and how schools embed technologies in their curricula to support learning and participation. A new report compares findings from the Global Kids Online survey in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay, pointing to the importance of media literacy, parental mediation, and state regulation for maximising children’s online benefits and minimising harm.

Children’s vulnerabilities and protective factors

17th July 2020

Drawing on Global Kids Online comparative findings and a recent review of the existing evidence, we reflect on the future research needed to understand the influences and pathways to influence in children’s well-being in a digital world. In this new report, we explore key areas related to children’s internet use and identify opportunities for further research and analysis, discuss existing methodological challenges, and pinpoint the main measures used.

ITU launches new Child Online Protection guidelines

3rd July 2020

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has just launched its 2020 Guidelines on Child Online Protection (COP), updating its earlier guidance on how to develop a safe and empowering online environment for children and young people. Now that one in three internet users is a child, and especially now that many children have come to rely on the internet during COVID-19, this guidance is greatly needed.

How are children doing under lockdown #Covid19?

18th June 2020

Drawing on guidance from Global Kids Online, the #CovidUnder19 project invites views from children around the world by launching a global survey for 8-17 year old’s to get their views and experiences of ‘Life under Coronavirus’. The findings will tell us how children have been coping during the pandemic and will be used for advocacy globally to ensure children’s voices are included in the response to COVID-19 and future emergency and crisis situations. If you are aged between 8 and 17 years, please help us by completing our survey.

Children’s access to health information under COVID-19

12th June 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to accurate health information is particularly important, especially for children living in resource-poor communities where access to health care and services may be limited. Yet a large proportion of the world’s children are unable to access the internet as much as they want or need to.

Calling all researchers of children’s digital lives

5th June 2020

Global Kids Online has revised its main survey questionnaire. This is because things are changing for children in a digital world, and new insights are emerging all the time from research and practitioner communities. Also, we get lots of requests from researchers and research users, asking how to survey children about their access to and use of the internet and connected devices, or the questions worth asking about children’s online activities and the risks they encounter, or about how to survey parents and teachers on what they do to support children’s online well-being.

How to support children online during #Covid19

16th April 2020

When we published the Global Kids Online 11 country comparison report on online children’s experiences around the world, we hardly imagined that, just a few months later, those children with access to the internet would be relying on it so heavily for their information, education, entertainment, and connection with family and friends.

Done right, internet use can increase learning and skills

18th February 2020

Blanket restrictions on children’s internet use prevent them from taking advantage of critical learning and skills development opportunities, according to the new Global Kids Online report, launched today at the Internet Governance Forum in Berlin. Produced by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Growing up in a Connected World compares data on internet use among nearly 15,000 internet-using children in 11 countries across Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.