Creating Responsible Technology Usage for Children: A Societal Challenge |

The current generation of young children and adolescents are the first generation of humans who will experience the onset of the Artificial Intelligence epoch. Responsible technology use for children is a very important societal challenge and needs concerted and coordinated action from parents, teachers and policymakers. Early exposure of how to use technology is a vital life skill for the next generation, at the same time unmonitored internet access and unrestricted social media time is a major problem.

Policymakers in many countries have started solving this problem proactively. The UK government is formulating a law to limit social media access for teenagers under the age of 16 to try to protect them from online harm. China has also enacted similar legislation. India currently does not have any such laws. What should parents do in this situation? Where on one hand using technology is an essential life skill but on the other excessive use is dangerous.
Technology provides children with easy access to information – both good and bad. The digital environment is largely unregulated and might expose children to age-inappropriate or potentially harmful content. There has been particular concern about children’s exposure to hate messages and violent images online and how this affects their well-being and rights.

Explain to your child that every online action – be it a comment, a photo, or even simply liking or disliking a post – leaves a virtual footprint that is indelible. Before they do or say anything in the virtual world, parents should encourage them to think whether they would do the same thing in the real world? If they are uncomfortable doing something offline then they should not do the same thing online.
Prevent your children from going to sleep with electronic devices. This is harmful for sleep, concentration and their mood.
It is extremely important to talk your child about the risks associated with cyber bullying and trolling. Parents should also set up a child-profile, use child-friendly search engines, and use software like firewalls to filter out any harmful or inappropriate content. Though technology presents dangers, it’s also a way to prevent dangers. If students know that screen monitoring software is installed on school computers, they’ll learn to be more cautious about their online behavior. In other words, they’ll think about what they’re thinking and doing.

Parents should also set boundaries limiting the amount of screen time per day as well as having times of the day when no online time is permitted. No devices should be permitted during meals and family time, during this time it is also important for the parents to keep their own phones and devices away and lead by setting an example.
There is also a lot of misinformation and fake news circulating around online. It is important for parents to help children understand what are credible sources of information? and how to determine the credibility of a source.
Digital experiences will have significant impacts on the current generation of children. There are risks but also great potential benefits for children, enabling them to learn, to create, to develop friendships, and to shape a good future for us all.
(Praneet Mungali, an alumnus of the London School of Economics & ISB Hyderabad, an education entrepreneur in the K-12 sector.)