Is the internet really transforming children and young
people's lives? Is the so-called 'digital
generation' genuinely benefiting from exciting new
opportunities? And, worryingly, facing new risks?

This major new book by a leading researcher addresses these
pressing questions. It deliberately avoids a techno-celebratory
approach and, instead, interprets children's everyday
practices of internet use in relation to the complex and changing
historical and cultural conditions of childhood in late modernity.
Uniquely, Children and the Internet reveals the complex
dynamic between online opportunities and online risks, exploring
this in relation to much debated issues such as:

* Digital in/exclusion

* Learning and literacy

* Peer networking and privacy

* Civic participation

* Risk and harm

Drawing on current theories of identity, development, education
and participation, this book includes a refreshingly critical
account of the challenging realities undermining the great
expectations held out for the internet - from governments,
teachers, parents and children themselves. It concludes with a
forward-looking framework for policy and regulation designed to
advance children's rights to expression, connection and play
online as well as offline.

Sonia Livingstone is a Professor of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics

This major new book by a leading researcher addresses these pressing questions. It deliberately avoids a techno-celebratory approach and, instead, interprets children's everyday practices of internet use in relation to the complex and changing historical and cultural conditions of childhood in late modernity. Uniquely, Children and the Internet reveals the complex dynamic between online opportunities and online risks, exploring this in relation to much debated issues such as:

• Digital in/exclusion
• Learning and literacy
• Peer networking and privacy
• Civic participation
• Risk and harm

Drawing on current theories of identity, development, education and participation, this book includes a refreshingly critical account of the challenging realities undermining the great expectations held out for the internet - from governments, teachers, parents and children themselves. It concludes with a forward-looking framework for policy and regulation designed to advance children's rights to expression, connection and play online as well as offline.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1. Changing childhood, changing media.

2. Youthful experts.

3. Learning and education.

4. Communication and identity.

5. Participation and civic engagement.

6. Risk and harm.

7. Media and digital literacies.

8. Balancing opportunities and risks.

Appendix.

Notes.

Reference.

Index.