How do 10-year-old New Zealanders participate in a digital world?

ABSTRACT

This article reports findings from a study that examined how pre-adolescent children, age 9–11 years participate in the digital world. Children from 14 different communities across New Zealand were interviewed in focus groups to explore their experience of using digital devices and the Internet. The findings indicate that the differences in use and participation were influenced predominantly by their family and their teacher and the similarities across the sample were a reflection of a type of pre-teen culture. The children in the study were consuming content from websites, creating and sharing digital artefacts and gaming. Interactions with online social networks were restricted to family and friends. The findings suggest that there are age-based stages for learning how to participate effectively in the digital world that may be context specific. For young people transitioning into social media, this includes developing online identity and how to interact appropriately within digital environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital divide
• young people
• identity
• ICTs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Louise Starkey (BSc, DipTchg, M.Ed (Hons), Ph.D.) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand with experience in teaching and leadership within the schooling sector. Her research interests focus on teaching and learning in the digital age [email: [email protected]].

Elizabeth Eppel (B.Sc, M.Ed (Admin), Ph.D.) is a Senior Research and Teaching Fellow in the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand with over 20 years’ experience as a senior public servant. Her research interests are complexity in public policy processes, governance networks, collaborative governance and digital government [email: [email protected]].

Allan Sylvester (CPL-A, BCA (Hons), Ph.D.) is the Deputy Head of the School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Allan has over 30 years’ experience in technology service delivery. His research interests include public sector information systems and ICT adoption and use in the education sector [email: [email protected]].

ORCID

Louise Starkey http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8607-366X

Elizabeth A. Eppel http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5331-2911

Allan Sylvester http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3262-6780

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Education [grant number CW40111].