Internet and child well-being

Abstract

While acknowledging that the Internet has brought new opportunities and challenges to children’s lives, this chapter proceeds from the assumption that offline institutions and practices tend to be reproduced and reinforced online. We employ classical conceptualizations of the quality of life to define and structure the aspects of child well-being as related to the Internet. In treating “well-being” as a multidimensional construct, we combine Allardt’s (Allardt, E. (1993). Having, loving, being: An alternative to the Swedish model of welfare research. In M. C. Nussbaum and A. Sen (Eds.), The quality of life (pp. 88-94). Oxford: Clarendon.) classification of individual human needs (“Having,” “Loving,” and “Being”) with categorizations from a psychological approach and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Index of Children’s Well-Being, as well as with the societal aspects. Accordingly, this chapter discusses six components of well-being: material, physical, psychological, social, developmental, and societal. The chapter concludes that using the Internet in a safe and skilled manner may have a considerable positive impact on children’s developmental and social well-being. Also, research evidence presented in the chapter leads to a conclusion that excessive and/or unskilled use of the Internet can impact negatively on physical, psychological, and social dimensions, as well as on some aspects of material and developmental well-being of children. The overall conclusion of the chapter states that the ways child well-being is related to Internet use are multifaceted, depending on a complex set of individual-level circumstances and factors, as well as on the institutional and social context. The chapter suggests that the main challenge for stakeholders consists in achieving a balance between empowerment and protection of children to increase their well-being through maximizing the opportunities whilst minimizing the risks of Internet use.