Children in danger from being over-protected in the digital age

Heavy-handed approaches to issues around social media and digital communication such as 'sexting', may be damaging to children's emotional development, according to new research on childhood in the digital age, by academics at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) and Plymouth University. The researchers - Dr Sandra Leaton-Gray (IOE) and Professor Andy Phippen (Plymouth University), interviewed children who told them most of their online activities were relatively harmless. The children said they were aware of explicit images being passed around but had rarely been personally involved - however parents and teachers were often unnecessarily anxious. Some children described how their parents would monitor their phones and emails, doing regular spot-checks or even receiving copies of all their texts or online messages. In some cases, the youngsters were even tracked using GPS. Teachers, too, would examine the contents of pupils' phones. 'There is a serious risk that the next generation of our society develops in a way that makes them think they have no right to privacy,' said Dr Leaton-Gray and Professor Phippen in their book 'Invisibly Blighted: The digital erosion of childhood'.