Analysis of Trust Factors in Children's Abilities to Use Digital Devices

Abstract

Parents struggle with configuring the settings of web content filters on digital devices, such as smartphones, which limit time use, to protect them from security threats, to minimize addictions to digital device usage, or to avoid trouble with social media bullying or strangers online. Parents may also make rules regarding digital device usage. Under such circumstances, children may recognize their use of digital device as problematic and/or harmful and become less inclined to trust their ability to use digital devices properly. On the other hand, there are also positive emotions, such as fun, convenience, networking, and connection that come with digital devices. Such positive and negative emotions are considered factors in children's degree of trust in their ability to use the digital devices properly, which we call the degree of trust to the digital device. In this paper, the factors that affect children's degree of trust in digital devices, focusing on smartphones, is investigated. A total of 1,078 pairs of parents and children from grades 1 to 12 in Japan, were recruited for participation. From the study, results show different factors that affect the degree of trust among the grade groups. Findings of this study are useful for understanding ways to improve children's trust in their ability to use digital devices.