Theorizing about children's digital worlds

Globally, a third of those under 18 years now have access to digital devices. ‘Ubiquitous’ is a word that does much to capture the nature of social media in many young people’s (and, indeed, adults’) everyday lives. It is challenging to consider what this situation, and access to digital devices more broadly, means for the nature of child development. Concerns are raised about issues such as ‘screen time’, addiction and online bullying. In a polarizing way, there are, on the one hand, loud calls for limiting the access of young people to social media (such as by banning mobile phones in schools) and, on the other, the view that the digital world, including social media, is now a well-established and positive feature of many children’s everyday lives. This chapter gives a short history of the development of the digital world, followed by a consideration of culture and the philosophy of science for understanding the significance of emerging technologies for children’s development. We then present an overview of some possibilities for theorizing about children’s development in the digital era.