After 3 years of our Children’s Data Lives work for the ICO – alongside all the other work we do with children – it is clear that children are growing up later.
They are also growing up in a rapidly changing technology environment. Technology now gives parents constant access to their children’s lives – when they’re at school, with friends, anywhere. Across all our work with the ICO we look at the implications of this level of data sharing and how it shapes both children’s and adults’ expectations and norms.
Our new research – ‘Navigating Children’s Privacy’ – is the first in series of ongoing projects for the ICO that looks at how parents and professionals specifically are helping children to grow up and navigating the various privacy and data tensions that accompany the use of technology within most aspects of children’s lives.
Our researchers spent time with families in their homes, and at schools and youth clubs, to understand how decisions about technology and data-sharing were assessed and made by those whose job it is to help children navigate through this complex landscape.
This report details how parents and professionals are getting on with this daunting task. It looks at how it has become entirely normal for parents to track their children’s movements at all times – even when they’re at school, prompting questions about whether children being constantly surveilled is now the necessary price for them having the independence needed to grow up.
It explores questions of responsibility – noting that some parents are starting to outsource boundary-setting when it comes to technology and data to schools or youth clubs.
It looks at how teachers are trying to navigate a world in which Ed Tech is ubiquitous, and AI is becoming the default for search and other things, while simultaneously being conscious of children’s screen time and trying to reduce reliance on technology in their lives outside of school.
Finally, it outlines the implications of the ongoing challenges parents and professionals are facing in helping children navigate a technology-driven childhood.
