Social digital dilemmas: Young people’s and parents’ negotiation of emerging online safety issues

Abstract

This article examines emerging online safety issues for Australian teenagers (12–17 years) in their use of social media, apps and online games drawing on findings from a multi-phase, mixed-methods research project carried out from January 2022 to July 2023. Based on the research, we develop a new understanding of ‘social digital dilemmas’, situating our analysis within the rapidly changing social media environment that uses algorithmic technologies and recommendation systems to automatically feed and personalise content to users. These social digital dilemmas are negotiated within relational social networks taking into account digital skills and literacies, household rules and realms of responsibility for children’s online safety that cut across differences in gender, family structure, cultural background and children’s disability status. Based on our findings, we make conclusions about the regulatory context for children’s online safety and suggest how to develop more effective online safety policies and approaches.