27 Nov 2024 | 18:30-20:00 | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, LSE & online

Is the internet good for children?

DFC public event, in-person and online

Speaker: Prof Sonia Livingstone

Chair: Prof Ellen Helsper

Location: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building (CKK)

See LSE campus map

Public anxiety about children’s digital lives and wellbeing is reaching a fever pitch, marking a notable turnaround from the decades-long efforts to ensure children are fully digitally included, literate and empowered. While arguments rage over what’s wrong with ‘screen time,’ ‘online harms,’ and data-driven forms of exploitation, this lecture hosted by the Digital Futures for Children centre will make the case for a rights-based approach that puts children’s needs at the forefront of the design and deployment of digital services.

Registration will open three weeks before the event

DFC summer meet-up

The DFC hosted a summer meet-up in July 2024 and we were joined by friends and collaborators from all over the world to discuss ongoing DFC projects and share experiences and suggestions.

Read our reflections from the summer meet-up.

Access the presentations: General comment No. 25 and DFC research database

Children’s online marketing harms: roundtable

The DFC hosted an in-person academic roundtable in June 2024 focusing on evidence of the harmful impact of online marketing on children and young people. The discusison covered negative outcomes from marketing tactics such as obesity, body dissatisfaction, and unsafe behaviours.

Read our reflections from the roundtable.

Tech tantrums - when tech meets humanity | Public lecture

Speaker: Baroness Beeban Kidron

Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone

In this talk, Beeban Kidron, best known for her global impact on tech regulation to benefit children, set out why issues around AI must not be left to tech experts and unaccountable corporations during her lively and well-attended DFC public lecture, chaired by Prof Sonia Livingstone.

Watch the lecture

Listen to the podcast

Read the blogs: AI companies have to become democratically accountable and Tech tantrums – when tech meets humanity

Impact of regulation on children’s digital lives | Report launch

New legislation and regulations are driving social media companies to make child safety and privacy changes, finds our new report by Steve Wood of PrivacyX Consulting and ex-ICO Deputy Commissioner. The report was launched on 20th May 2024 at the House of Lords.

Read the report

Read the blog

Digital Media Use in Early Childhood: Birth to Six | Book launch

The DFC launched Digital Media in Early Childhood: Birth to Six on 7th May 2024 with a lively and well attended event in LSE’s Shaw Library.

Read the event report

Speakers: Professor Sonia Livingstone, Professor Susan Danby, Professor Lelia Green and Professor Brian O’Neill

DFC celebrated the launch of Digital media use in early childhood with the authors and discussants. The book draws on a three-year research project examining the realities of under six-year-olds' experiences of digital technologies in the UK and Australia. At the launch, the authors presented the key arguments and reflect on a child rights-informed approach to early years’ digital lives.

More about the book

Pre-order book (flyer with discount code)

Launching: Digital Futures for Children

In case you missed the launch of Digital Futures for Children – a research collaboration between 5Rights Foundation and the Department of Media and Communications at London School of Economics and Political Science – you can find out more here.

Watch the webinar

Read about the event