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twenty-two - Mobile access: different users, different risks, different consequences?
- Edited by Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics and Political Science, Leslie Haddon, London School of Economics and Political Science, Anke Görzig, London School of Economics and Political Science
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- Book:
- Children, Risk and Safety on the Internet
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 07 September 2022
- Print publication:
- 18 July 2012, pp 285-296
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Summary
Introduction
Online communication and information is increasingly accessible to young people, from several other platforms than traditional personal computers. While mobile phones may be primary sources of online access to some and supplementing access to others, all mobile platforms offer the benefits of being personal, portable and always on and to hand. The increased online access from mobile phones raises two questions: does more access to the internet from mobile phones expose children to more risk and harm, and are there different risks and harm if children use mobile access rather than traditional personal computers? This chapter explores and analyses potential correlations between online access through mobile platforms, and patterns of exposure to risks.
The original purpose of the chapter was to look into patterns of and relations among risk, actual harm and coping strategies, related to using the internet accessed via a mobile device. Based on the questions asked and the size of the relevant groups we cannot, however, find evidence in the dataset that show that specific mobile uses result in higher levels of harm than ‘traditional’ internet use, and the same is the case for findings regarding coping strategies. Deeper explorations of these topics would have been possible if we could compare groups of users who access the internet only from mobile devices and those that use multiple platforms. However, the data set do not enable such comparison because very few respondents fall into these groups.
New opportunities, new challenges
This chapter builds on theories about how media landscapes are changing and how young people are adapting digital media. When we look at how new opportunities are being integrated at various rates and in various – different and similar – ways across Europe, it is clear that we must see ‘media as part of the changing context, the environment or the ecology of everyday life’ (Livingstone, 2002, p 71). Although, in principle, the introduction of new technological opportunities provides the same opportunities in terms of access to information and communication and social factors, our data show that despite their similarities, new technologies should be analysed in the context of the social landscape they become part of (Silverstone and Hirsch, 1992; Livingstone, 2002, 2009; Haddon, 2004).
twenty-one - Similarities and differences across Europe
- Edited by Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics and Political Science, Leslie Haddon, London School of Economics and Political Science, Anke Görzig, London School of Economics and Political Science
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- Book:
- Children, Risk and Safety on the Internet
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 07 September 2022
- Print publication:
- 18 July 2012, pp 273-284
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Summary
Introduction
Funding bodies and policy makers have increasingly called for comparative research. The result is that many researchers have initiated or participated in projects aimed at achieving some kind of multinational comparison (Livingstone, 2003). The EU Kids Online project is an example of such a study. In a review of about 400 studies of children and the internet, Hasebrink et al (2009) concluded that although it was possible to conduct a systematic and structured analysis of the existing research, it was both demanding in terms of research efforts and the claims made should be ‘treated as indicative rather than conclusive’ (see Hasebrink et al, 2009, p 95). At the same time, the analysis indicated that there are important cross-country differences in terms of children’s risks and opportunities on the internet. However, building on this uneven evidence base (Staksrud et al, 2009) it was difficult to extract the information required to conduct cross-national comparisons of other than the most commonly studied issues. Therefore, the second EU Kids Online project was designed to produce a rigorous, cross-nationally comparative quantitative evidence base of children's internet use across Europe. This chapter investigates similarities and differences across countries in children's usage of the internet and their encounters of risk. Countries are clustered, and national contexts are explored, to show how contextual factors at country level shape children's patterns of online use, opportunities and risks.
Logic of cross-country comparison
There are several reasons for conducting comparative research. One is to investigate the universality and uniqueness of findings based on nation-specific data. This requires comparison with data on other countries. Broadening the research perspective and providing fresh insights into the issues applying to a particular national context are part of the value of such research, and show how this approach can reveal significant knowledge gaps and point to new (or previously hidden) variables and factors that affect the phenomenon under scrutiny (Hantrais and Mangen, 1996, p 2; Livingstone, 2003, p 478). However, cross-national research must cope with many methodological as well as practical challenges. Methodological problems include selection of the research unit (mostly the nation-state), sampling and comparability of data issues and more practical issues (which also may have serious methodological implications) such as differences in professional academic culture, and standards of writing and communication (cf Livingstone, 2003).
two - What we know, what we do not know
- Edited by Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics and Political Science, Leslie Haddon, London School of Economics and Political Science
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- Book:
- Kids Online
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 15 July 2022
- Print publication:
- 30 September 2009, pp 19-30
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Summary
The assumption that young people are more future-oriented, more apt and more technologically aware and interested than adults (Rushkoff, 1996) is not new. To some extent, it is believed that young people's early adoption of and adaptation to new media and technologies such as the internet are mainly the result of the inherent interest adolescents are assumed to have in new technologies as well as their massive use in formal educational settings (Lee, 2005). This group, ‘the Net generation’ as dubbed by Tapscott (1998), is important because, even though they may actually represent the future and, in fact, be ‘the vanguard’, they also constitute a vulnerable group, potentially ‘at risk’ from some of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Livingstone, 2002: 2).
But what do we know about this age group and their online behaviour? What does current research tell us about children's experiences online? Does research provide enough evidence of the positive and negative consequences of children's uses of the internet? Based on the identification and analysis of almost 400 European studies about children and their online practices, this chapter seeks to identify the key research questions regarding children's access and uses of the internet and related online technologies. Here we also attempt to map the emerging research agenda, reflecting on current pressing research gaps and on the principles that have guided research so far and those that should guide future research in the field.
An overview of existing available research
In order to get the best possible picture of research carried out in Europe, the European Union (EU) Kids Online project mapped out the available research on children's access to and use of the internet and related online technologies in the 21 countries participating in the network (see Staksrud et al, 2009).
To accomplish this, it was decided to create a repository that would contain relevant data on research carried out in the field mainly during the period 2000-08, allowing the addition of some earlier studies if they were highly relevant. In total, 408 studies of children and the internet were collected and analysed (see Figure 2.1, which includes multicountry studies as well as single country ones).
four - Opportunities and pitfalls of cross-national research
- Edited by Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics and Political Science, Leslie Haddon, London School of Economics and Political Science
-
- Book:
- Kids Online
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 15 July 2022
- Print publication:
- 30 September 2009, pp 41-54
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Summary
Looking beyond national borders for comparative purposes has a long tradition in the history of social science research, and can be traced back to early social scientists such as Max Weber and Émile Durkheim. And a discussion of the methodology of cross-national comparison is not an entirely new phenomenon (Rokkan, 1968). However, it has only been in the last couple of decades that cross-national (or cross-cultural) comparative research has really gained in popularity in the social sciences (Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik and Harkness, 2005). Among processes that have contributed to this trend, we can certainly name the gradual internationalisation of the academic community and the removal of political barriers as well as the digitalisation of communication. Hence, crossing traditional boundaries – geographical as well as social and cultural – has become easier. Funding bodies and policy makers have also been increasingly calling for comparative research, and this call seems to be readily accepted by researchers who find themselves initiating or invited to collaborate in multinational comparative projects (Livingstone, 2003).
The topic of children's use of online media demonstrates perhaps better than most other research topics the potential and pitfalls of cross-national comparative research. This chapter addresses some of the key theoretical and methodological questions related to crossnational comparative research, focusing in particular on the research field of (new) media and communication technologies. Following their presentation and some critical reflections in the first part of the chapter, these methodological considerations will then be applied to the topic of children's online behaviour and online risks and opportunities, taking the research conducted within the European Union (EU) Kids Online project as a concrete empirical example.
Existing research on children and new media: single countries dominate
As noted in Chapter Two of this volume, one of the steps taken in the EU Kids Online project involved mapping the available research on children's access to and use of the internet and related online and mobile technologies in the 21 countries participating in the project (for a description of the collection policy and key findings see Staksrud et al, 2009). Based on the sample of almost 400 studies collected and conducted in the years 2000-08, cross-national research does not seem to be the most common type of research.