New Research: Youth Digital Engagement in India

A new study from Enfold Proactive Health Trust and the Fund explores youth digital engagement in India—from the perspective of children themselves.

Teenagers and young adults today are considered part of the first truly digital native generation. For many of them, technology has been integral to their lives since they were born. Their relationships with smartphones, computers, and the digital space can be perplexing to parents, teachers, and even young adults who grew up in an analogue world. Yet researchers tend to approach this issue from the perspective of adults. And although young people around the world engage with digital technology daily, little research about their habits exists in the context of the Global South.

That’s why the Fund for Global Human Rights has partnered with Enfold Proactive Health Trust to study the opportunities and challenges of youth digital engagement from the perspective of children in Karnataka, India. The result is an important new study: Pathways for Healthy Digital Engagement: Perspectives of Children and Adult Stakeholders from Karnataka, India.

This report presents a child-centric gaze on the phenomenon of digital engagement. It includes the perspectives of young people from varying classes and backgrounds as well as the opinions of their parents and teachers to explore the extent of coherence and dissonance between these three key stakeholders. The study details different aspects of digital engagement, such as the age that young people first engage with the digital world, how they approach it, its impact on their lives and development, and how adults in their lives monitor (or, in some cases, don’t monitor) their use of technology. The report concludes with a series of recommendations intended to maximize the positive effects and mitigate the negative impacts of digital engagement through healthy and responsible online interaction.

Digital Engagement and Human Rights

You may be wondering: What does digital engagement have to do with human rights?

Young people today learn to understand the world they live in through the imperfect—and sometimes outright disorienting—prism of the internet. The amount of time they spend online, the information they choose to believe (or reject), and the connections that are made or broken across virtual space are all facets of digital engagement that shape young people today. It can have profound effects on their mental and emotional health, their sense of self, and their relationship with community. These behaviors carry lasting impacts for society, culture, and our shared civic space.

And while young people today may be digital natives, that doesn’t mean they are all digitally literate. Even as teenagers engage with the digital world, many still lack the knowledge and tools to sift through the misinformation that proliferates across social media. Across the globe, policymakers and scholars agree that improving digital literacy is critical for defending the practice of democracy—a cornerstone of the human rights movement.

This is a first step toward developing better education and healthy practices that encourage rights-based behaviors. Adults—including teachers and parents—who want to promote positive digital engagement must begin by understanding how young people use the internet. And young people, whose perspectives are so often excluded, must be part of these important conversations.

By fostering healthier digital engagement and higher digital literacy across diverse populations, we can help contribute to the development of engaged, civic-minded young people around the world.