Collection 

Digital children: well-being in the online environment

Submission status
Closed
Submission deadline

Children born in the digital age are growing up in a world in which technological developments are rapid and relentless. In the social sphere, social media and messaging apps are now an essential part of how youngsters seek out and form friendships and make sense of the word about them. While in educational settings, the broader school experience has been transformed by the integration of digital technologies and media. Although the acquisition of digital competencies is widely considered a priority in education, there is growing awareness of the dangers and costs of extended “screen time” and its negative impacts on the physical and mental wellbeing of youngsters.

We invite research that addresses the challenges and opportunities for children growing up in the digital era, including, but not limited to, the following themes:

  • Digital technologies as tools for promoting positive social, emotional and physical wellbeing, including cognitive and physical development
  • Opportunities offered by digital technologies for children and young people to enhance creativity, social interaction, learning, and global connections
  • Risks posed by digital technology including cyberbulling, trafficking, abuse, and exploitation, marketing and influencers
  • Children’s rights in the online environment, including data protection and privacy
  • Digital inequality, exclusion and poverty – and policies and initiatives to alleviate the digital divide
  • Psychological and social implications of technology on children and young people

Research is primarily invited from the following fields, although other perspectives will be welcomed: media and communication studies, social psychology, child development.

Research that simply reports on case studies involving the use of ICT in educational settings is not in the scope of this Collection, unless broader social/psychological perspectives and implications are examined in depth.

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3, SDG 4 and SDG 10.

Young child on a sofa looking at a tablet computer

Editors

The Collection will publish original research Articles, Reviews and Comments (full details on content types can be found here). Papers will be published in Humanities & Social Sciences Communications as soon as they are accepted and then collected together and promoted on the Collection homepage. All Guest Edited Collections are associated with a call for papers and are managed by one or more of our Editorial Board Members and the journal's Editors.

This Collection welcomes submissions from all authors – and not by invitation only – on the condition that the manuscripts fall within the scope of the Collection and of Humanities & Social Sciences Communications more generally. See our editorial process page for more details.

All submissions are subject to the same peer review process and editorial standards as regular Humanities & Social Sciences Communications Articles, including the journal’s policy on competing interests. The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions, which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests. See our journal policies and submission guidelines for more details.

This Collection is not supported by sponsorship.