Digitalisation offers children endless possibilities, but it also brings with it a huge burden of risks and dangers. The Internet and its followers only exacerbate social and economic inequalities among children to unimaginable limits . This is at least the conclusion of a recent UNICEF report .
Currently, one in three Internet users is under 18 years old. However, 29% of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 (especially those from Africa and Arab countries) do not have an Internet connection.
The Internet also makes sexual abuse of children easier and opens up new avenues for child trafficking , the UN agency warns in its study.
Not everything is bad and evil, however, about the omnipresent digitalization. The network of networks “opens doors to a better world” particularly for those children in remote areas and young people plagued in their daily lives by hunger, starvation and other problems.
Students and teachers, for example, have access to books and school supplies in digital format that they would not otherwise have.
Afghan girls who cannot leave home can study from home by relying on online distance learning . And boys living in refugee camps can continue their education via mobile phone and computer.
“Sharing knowledge and working side by side with others has never been easier sri lanka phone number it is today. It has also never been easier to create and disseminate pornographic content and other prohibited materials ,” concludes the UNICEF report.
When surfing the web, children often encounter violent and racist content , propaganda that encourages hatred, and strangers who do not always have good intentions.
“In the future, children will grow up increasingly connected. And the Internet will inevitably make its way into their lives,” says the UNICEF study. “In the new digital universe, there is a double challenge : minimizing the dangers of the Internet and maximizing the opportunities that the network offers children,” stresses Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director.