By Aqib Siddiqui
In the ever-evolving digital landscape, understanding children’s interaction with technology is crucial. This June, I had the opportunity to present our research at the TREO forum of The European Conference of Information Systems (ECIS) in Paphos, Cyprus.
Our project, part of the DIGYMATEX initiative, is titled “From Patterns to Action: A Machine Learning Approach to Understanding Children’s Digital Maturity.” This research was conducted by me and Konstantina Valogianni from IE Business School, Spain.
With the proliferation of digital devices in our daily lives, children are increasingly exposed to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) from a young age.
Our research investigates the effects of children’s ICT usage patterns, aiming at understanding and predicting their digital maturity based on their ICT usage patterns. We developed an innovative data-driven IT artifact that serves as a valuable resource for identifying interventions aimed at fostering healthy digital habits and well-being.
The study analysed data from 1,440 respondents aged 11-18 from Austria, Germany, Greece, and Denmark. We employed a combination of Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) Clustering and various classifiers, including Random Forest, Support Vector Machines, and Multinomial Logistic Regression, selecting the model with the highest F1 Score for our analysis.
The research categorizes children into three distinct clusters based on their ICT usage patterns:
- High Digital Maturity: This group demonstrates advanced digital skills and responsible behavior, indicating effective individual functioning and social relationships.
- Medium Digital Maturity: These children exhibit a balance between autonomy and emotional regulation but lack digital citizenship behavior, suggesting the need for further development in social and individual adequacy.
- Low Digital Maturity: Characterized by impulsive behavior, poor emotional regulation, and lack of digital literacy, this group is more susceptible to negative psychosocial outcomes.
These findings offer valuable insights into promoting responsible ICT use among children. By understanding these digital maturity clusters, tailored programs, software, and support systems can be developed to enhance children’s digital literacy and well-being.
This research extends existing studies on children’s digital maturity and ICT usage, employing a Design Science Research (DSR) based socio-technical perspective.
The project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, provides a roadmap for improving digital literacy and safety in young users. It highlights the importance of targeted interventions for different maturity levels, benefiting parents, educators, schools, and policymakers.
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The writer is PhD student at the IE Business School, Spain.
Another area for future investigation could focus on developing Digital Citizenship, one of the ten dimensions on which participants scored relatively low. “However, interest in youth online civic engagement is increasing, and educating teens on how to use the online environment and social media for civic participation could prove fruitful,” the researchers noted.
Recent decades have seen increasing concern regarding the negative effects of digital technology on adolescents’ wellbeing, alongside recognition of positive effects and the desire to balance the two.
Individuals vary largely in their susceptibility to the negative effects and ability to take advantage of the positive effects, owing most likely to individual differences in the way people interact with digital devices and manage their online behaviour, the researchers noted.
“Digital maturity aims to capture the extent to which young individuals use digital technology in a healthy and adaptive way”, they summarised.
“Interestingly, making thoughtful decisions about the specific content to engage in was rather unconnected within the network, suggesting that choosing the specific online activity is less decisive for digital maturity than choosing whether to go online in the first place,” the researchers said.