Why governments should take action to drive children’s well-being in the digital era

The impact of digital technology on children has become a contentious issue. There are those like Jonathan Haidt advocating for much stronger regulation, including banning social media before the age of 16. Amy Orben and Andy Przybylski, offer a counter perspective, presenting an analysis that demonstrates no association between digital technology and mental health issues. 

Recent PISA results show that some access to digital technology for learning improves performance in maths – albeit as children spend more and more time using digital technology for leisure, performance declines.  

Digital technology can support well-being. A collaboration between UNICEF and the LEGO Group (funded by the LEGO Foundation) found that digital games can contribute to the well-being of children by allowing them to experience a sense of control, giving them freedom of choice and creating opportunities to experience mastery and feel achievement. The latest release of this research, called Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC), equips digital services with the design tools to actively support children’s well-being. 

Earlier this month Australia announced plans to ban social media for under-16s. Keir Starmer, the recently elected Prime Minister of the UK, made well-being central to one of his five missions: 

“We will…improve the confidence, the wellbeing and the happiness of our children, because that is so often the barrier that holds them back.”

How can governments successfully navigate children’s digital technology use and improvements to their well-being? Are outright bans really the solution? Or do they risk taking away the enormous potential for technology to do good?  Our new report with the LEGO Group suggests that governments and regulators should go beyond just trying to eliminate harms. They should actively shape digital technology markets to harness their power to improve well-being. 

In general, traditional government intervention in markets has focused on reducing harms (the red section in the diagram below). This might involve prohibiting or banning products or services, or it might involve imposing a tax on harmful goods. However, by only focusing on reducing harms, governments do not drive improvements in those products and services, they simply restrict them. To truly foster a healthy and more sustainable digital environment, governments need to adopt a more proactive stance that also drives well-being for children.

A market-shaping perspective, as outlined by Mariana Mazzucato can complement a traditional enforcement pyramid (as articulated by Professors Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite): 

Crucially, a market-shaping approach drives continuous improvement over time and maintains market functioning, as opposed to harm-based approaches which may distort the market. 

Through desk research, expert interviews and a stakeholder workshop, we unearthed many methods for adopting a market-shaping approach to complement the existing harm-based approach to maximise well-being. Here are three examples: 

1. Product labelling (information): Introducing labels that indicate the performance of digital products and services in terms of children’s well-being can empower parents to make informed choices about what products will best help their children.
2. Regulatory sandboxes (incentives): Creating regulatory sandboxes for digital technology specifically for products designed to improve children’s well-being. This allows companies that want to do good to experiment with innovative ideas under relaxed regulatory requirements.
3. Social value ratings (requirement): Procurement rules could be amended so that public bodies, such as schools, only buy digital products that demonstrate promotion of children’s well-being agenda. 

In our report, we provide an assessment of the applicability and feasibility of each of the proposed market-shaping measures: 

We set out the next steps to take these ideas forward, principally through active testing, experimentation and evaluation. Wider market players also need to be brought together: governments, businesses, consumer groups, and NGOs. 

As digital technology continues to evolve, so too must our strategies for regulating it. By moving beyond harm prevention to actively shaping the market for good, governments can play an active role in creating a digital world that not only protects but also enriches the lives of children. Our report provides a valuable roadmap for achieving this goal.