Emerging technologies have the potential to influence how children develop, but the exact nature of these influences remains unclear. This section of “Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence” uses examples of artificial intelligence and virtual reality to explore what is known about the impact of new tech on children, as well as what we still need to know. While children might accurately perceive these entities as non-human, they may still struggle with concepts such as morality (e.g., abusiveness), information accuracy, and digital privacy. These ambiguities make children vulnerable to certain risks, including unknowingly sharing their personal information or accepting misinformation. To protect children from these risks, the authors suggest educational interventions for children and their parents that discuss digital and privacy literacy. Researchers also need to conduct more robust studies exploring relationships between these technologies and children’s learning retention, medical outcomes, and socioemotional development as a means of supporting appropriate policies and regulations.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are excerpts from the "Emerging Technologies" section of the “Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence." This open access publication is free to download in full or by individual chapters via the links provided following the recommendations below.
- Exercise caution when using virtual reality, robots, or other emerging technologies with patients.
- Be aware of potential privacy concerns with robot use.
- Routinely educate families about how their information is being stored and shared, and the possible risks of these actions.
- Stay informed about emerging technologies.
- Co-use new technologies with children.
- Set appropriate limits on technology access and use.
- Ensure children know a robot’s capabilities, its limitations, and how to treat it.
- Educate children about digital privacy risks at a young age.
- Model responsible use of new technologies.
- Exercise caution when including voice assistants, virtual reality, or other emerging technologies in classroom learning.
- Work with researchers to understand the potentials and limitations of virtual reality in education.
- Co-create digital literacy resources with key stakeholders.
- Incorporate considerations for emerging technologies and related information processing into digital literacy education.
- Provide evidence-based professional development for educators and IT support.
- Strive to bridge the digital divide and address potential disparities in access, content, and representation.
- Update laws and policies (i.e., child privacy and data protection laws) to reflect changes in technologies.
- Emphasize continuous monitoring and strict content standards in regulations.
- Encourage collaborations between industry, academia, and government.
- Promote responsible use of child-centered designs.
- Consider children’s right to privacy when developing policies.
- Use evidence-based approaches for recommendations.
- Encourage perceptual tools to be developed in ways that secure, anonymize, and protect child data.
- Engage in thoughtful, responsive child-appropriate design.
- Co-design products with key stakeholders, including children.
- Equity and diversity must be centered in designing and implementing products.
- Promote active parental involvement through design.
- Incorporate AI literacy into content.
- Create virtual reality content and platforms that support group experiences.
- Consider ways product design might deceive users.
- Provide strong limits on what kinds of behavior robots can learn.
- Balance children’s privacy and data protection against user experience when considering use of personal data.
- Provide effective, accurate, and transparent methods of communicating a new technology’s capabilities to end users.
- Understand children’s questioning patterns with and expectations of voice assistants.
- Conduct research on potential risks virtual reality poses to children.
- Extend research with larger and more diverse samples, as well as longitudinal designs.
- Balance laboratory-based and natural environment studies, considering the impacts of each on respective findings.
- Consider new methodological and theoretical approaches, as needed, for novel technologies.
Emerging Technologies Section Chapters
Introduction to the Section on Emerging Technologies
Judith Danovitch, PhD
Growing up with Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Child Development
Ying Xu, PhD, Yenda Prado, PhD, Rachel L. Severson, PhD, Silvia Lovato, PhD, Justine Cassell, PhD
Children’s Understanding and Use of Voice-assistants: Opportunities and Challenges
Judith H. Danovitch, PhD, Adam K. Dubé, PhD, Cansu Oranç, PhD, Jessica Szczuka, PhD, Svetlana Yarosh, PhD
Social Robots and Children’s Development: Promises and Implications
Rachel L. Severson, PhD, Jochen Peter, PhD, Takayuki Kanda, PhD, Jordy Kaufman, PhD, Brian Scassellati, PhD
Immersive Horizons: Navigating the Impacts of Virtual Reality on Children and Families
Jordy Kaufman, PhD, Jennifer M. Zosh, PhD, Jakki O. Bailey, PhD, Therese Keane, PhD, Paola Araiza-Alba, PhD, Dorothy Cowie, PhD, Eunjoo Kim, PhD, Faisal Mushtaq, PhD, Lawrence Tychsen, MD, Tim J. Smith, PhD
Children’s Understanding of Digital Tracking and Digital Privacy
Susan A. Gelman, PhD, Shaylene E. Nancekivell, PhD Young-eun Lee, PhD, Florian Schaub, PhD
Digital Media, Cognition, and Brain Development: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Digital Media, Cognition, and Brain Development Section (pages 7-60)
Education Technology: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part Three: Digital Domains, Education Technology Section (pages 517-567)
Media Policy: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part Two: Research on How Media Influence Relationships, Family, Culture, and Society, Media Policy Section (pages 465-514)
Race, Racism, and Digital Media: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part Two: Research on How Media Influence Relationships, Family, Culture, and Society, Race, Racism, and Digital Media Section (pages 263-316)
Parenting in the Digital Age: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part Two: Research on How Media Influence Relationships, Family, Culture, and Society, Parenting in the Digital Age Section (pages 371-425)
Youth Digital Wellbeing: Summary and Recommendations
Summary and Recommendations found in the "Handbook of Children and Screens: Digital Media, Development, and Well-Being from Birth Through Adolescence," Part One: Research Concerning Cognitive, Physical, Mental, and Psychosocial Impacts on Children, Youth Digital Wellbeing Section (pages 211-259)
Mental Health Apps, ChatBots, and Digital Therapy for Kids: What You Need to Know
The escalating adolescent mental health crisis has been met with a new array of digital solutions--how are these new digital resources shaping the future of mental health care for youth?
AI and Children: Risks and Opportunities of the Enhanced Internet
Generative AI technologies like ChatGPT are changing the nature of online communications, work, creativity, and learning. What are the impacts to children’s social and cognitive development in this new, turbocharged Internet?
Algorithms 101: Youth and AI-Driven Tech
What can families do about the growing influence of algorithmically-delivered content on youth’s development, preferences, and minds?
Here, There, and Everywhere: Emerging Technologies and the Future of Children
How will emerging technologies impact children? How are algorithms already influencing youth attitudes, behavior – and their future?