IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v13y2022i1p11-d1021230.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Children’s Vulnerability to Digital Technology within the Family: A Scoping Review

Author

Listed:
  • Tove Lafton

    (Faculty of Education and International Studies, Department of Early Childhood Education, Oslo Metropolitan University, 0130 Oslo, Norway)

  • Halla B. Holmarsdottir

    (Faculty of Education and International Studies, Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, 0130 Oslo, Norway)

  • Olaf Kapella

    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University Wien, 1010 Vienna, Austria)

  • Merike Sisask

    (School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia)

  • Liudmila Zinoveva

    (School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia)

Abstract

Children today experience digital engagement from a young age, and information and communication technology (ICT) use impacts how the family, seen as a social–relational structure or network of two or more people, communicates and interacts in daily life. This review broadly encompasses how children and young people are vulnerable regarding digital technology, focusing on diverse aspects of the family. The scoping review includes a final corpus of 100 articles broadly focusing on the term ‘vulnerability’ as it relates to digital technology and the family. The themes identified originate from the articles and describe five domains of vulnerability: (1) extensive Internet use, (2) age and gender, (3) risky online behaviour, (4) social networking as a social lubricant, and (5) parental mediation and care. The studies identified lean heavily on quantitative studies measuring time, whilst depth and context are less visible. Despite a growing body of research, there is a lack of both qualitative studies and research examining the role of technology in the lives of children and young people and how family dynamics are affected in the digital age.

Suggested Citation

  • Tove Lafton & Halla B. Holmarsdottir & Olaf Kapella & Merike Sisask & Liudmila Zinoveva, 2022. "Children’s Vulnerability to Digital Technology within the Family: A Scoping Review," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2022:i:1:p:11-:d:1021230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/1/11/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/1/11/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wąsiński, Arkadiusz & Tomczyk, Łukasz, 2015. "Factors reducing the risk of internet addiction in young people in their home environment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 68-74.
    2. Regina J.J.M. van den Eijnden & Suzanne M. Geurts & Tom F.M. ter Bogt & Vincent G. van der Rijst & Ina M. Koning, 2021. "Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Sleep: A Longitudinal Study on the Protective Role of Parental Rules Regarding Internet Use before Sleep," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Idunn Seland & Halla B. Holmarsdottir & Christer Hyggen & Olaf Kapella & Dimitris Parsanoglou & Merike Sisask, 2022. "Conditions Contributing to Positive and Negative Outcomes of Children’s ICT Use: Protocol for a Scoping Review," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Anna Faltýnková & Lukas Blinka & Anna Ševčíková & Daniela Husarova, 2020. "The Associations between Family-Related Factors and Excessive Internet Use in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-11, March.
    5. Best, Paul & Manktelow, Roger & Taylor, Brian, 2014. "Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 27-36.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio Maratia & Valeria Bacaro & Elisabetta Crocetti, 2023. "Sleep Is a Family Affair: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies on the Interplay between Adolescents’ Sleep and Family Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Melissa Bohnert & Pablo Gracia, 2021. "Emerging Digital Generations? Impacts of Child Digital Use on Mental and Socioemotional Well-Being across Two Cohorts in Ireland, 2007–2018," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 629-659, April.
    3. Yuwen Lyu & Julian Chun-Chung Chow & Ji-Jen Hwang & Zhi Li & Cheng Ren & Jungui Xie, 2022. "Psychological Well-Being of Left-Behind Children in China: Text Mining of the Social Media Website Zhihu," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Yang Yang & Keqiao Liu & Siqi Li & Man Shu, 2020. "Social Media Activities, Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Their Interactions on People’s Mental Health in COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-16, December.
    5. McCrory, Alanna & Best, Paul & Maddock, Alan, 2020. "The relationship between highly visual social media and young people’s mental health: A scoping review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Łukasz Tomczyk, 2021. "Evaluation of Digital Piracy by Youths," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-26, January.
    7. Griffith, David A. & Lee, Hannah S. & Yalcinkaya, Goksel, 2023. "Understanding the relationship between the use of social media and the prevalence of anxiety at the country level: a multi-country examination," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    8. Emily McDool & Phillip Powell & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2016. "Social Media Use and Children’s Wellbeing," Working Papers 2016011, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    9. Lee, Ah Ram & Suzanne Horsley, J., 2017. "The role of social media on positive youth development: An analysis of 4-H Facebook page and 4-H'ers' positive development," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 127-138.
    10. Netta Achdut & Tehila Refaeli & Talia Meital Schwartz Tayri, 2021. "Subjective Poverty, Material Deprivation Indices and Psychological Distress Among Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Social Capital and Usage of Online Social Networks," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 863-887, December.
    11. Kati Puukko & Lauri Hietajärvi & Erika Maksniemi & Kimmo Alho & Katariina Salmela-Aro, 2020. "Social Media Use and Depressive Symptoms—A Longitudinal Study from Early to Late Adolescence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-18, August.
    12. Xilin Li & Yao Zhang & Ziwen Ye & Lingling Huang & Xujuan Zheng, 2021. "Development of a Mobile Application of Internet-Based Support Program on Parenting Outcomes for Primiparous Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-11, July.
    13. Ahmed Al-Imam & Farah Al-Mukhtar & Aisha Shafiq & Manolia Irfan, 2017. "Knowledge and (Ab)Use in Connection with Novel Psychoactive Substances: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Iraqi Medical Students," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(11), pages 1-61, November.
    14. Cristina Fernández-Rovira & Santiago Giraldo-Luque, 2021. "Evolution of the Digital Attention Market in the Pandemic: A Comparative Study of Young Spanish University Students (2019–2021)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-14, October.
    15. Jessy Siongers & Bram Spruyt, 2024. "Navigating the Social Media Seas: Understanding the Complex Relationship between Social Media Use and Adolescent Well-being," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(1), pages 177-196, February.
    16. Olatz Lopez-Fernandez, 2021. "Emerging Health and Education Issues Related to Internet Technologies and Addictive Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-19, January.
    17. Storer, Heather L. & Nyerges, Eva X. & Hamby, Sherry, 2022. "Technology “Feels Less Threatening”: The processes by which digital technologies facilitate youths’ access to services at intimate partner violence organizations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Yunrong Li & Ricardo Mora, 2022. "On the use of social networking services and the ability to socialize: evidence from Chinese children aged 10 to 15," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(49), pages 5639-5654, October.
    19. Tomczyk, Łukasz & Selmanagic-Lizde, Elma, 2018. "Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) among youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina — Scale and selected mechanisms," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 541-549.
    20. Angel Nga Man Leung & Wilbert Law & Yvonne Yiqing Liang & Antony Chun Lam Au & Cheng Li & Henry Kin Shing Ng, 2021. "What Explains the Association between Usage of Social Networking Sites (SNS) and Depression Symptoms? The Mediating Roles of Self-Esteem and Fear of Missing Out," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-11, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2022:i:1:p:11-:d:1021230. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.