This major new book by a leading researcher addresses these pressing questions. It deliberately avoids a techno-celebratory approach and, instead, interprets children’s everyday practices of internet use in relation to the complex and changing historical and cultural conditions of childhood in late modernity. Uniquely, <i>Children and the Internet</i> reveals the complex dynamic between online opportunities and online risks, exploring this in relation to much debated issues such as:
· Digital in/exclusion
· Learning and literacy
· Peer networking and privacy
· Civic participation
· Risk and harm
Drawing on current theories of identity, development, education and participation, this book includes a refreshingly critical account of the challenging realities undermining the great expectations held out for the internet - from governments, teachers, parents and children themselves. It concludes with a forward-looking framework for policy and regulation designed to advance children’s rights to expression, connection and play online as well as offline.