Children and Digital Wellbeing in Australia: Online regulation, conduct and competence

Abstract

This article contributes to the study of children and the internet by reporting on findings from an ethnographic study of children's online use, experience and regulation in Melbourne, Australia. As part of a social inclusion study of technology use, we worked with children and their families in the contexts of everyday and home internet use. This article begins by identifying age-related gaps in the literature on children's online risks, and then moves on to a discussion of the research findings relating to children's online mediation, conduct and competence. By developing a concept of digital wellbeing the article argues that rather than focus only on risk protection measures, it is important to equip children with the knowledge and skills to be active, ethical and critical participants online.