The rights of children and adolescents in the digital environment. New scenarios for the tension between violation and protection of rights

Abstract

Summary

Virtual environments are increasingly present in our lives, especially for children and adolescents. In them, opportunities to realize rights coexist with threats of violation.

It is not about “another reality” but a different scenario in which the boy or girl has the right to be protected per the principle of co-responsibility.

Some characteristic pivots of this reality are: Increase in navigation hours; connectivity inequities; absence of adults who guarantee rights, which leads to a process of social construction of solitude.

A conception of protection is exposed that places the child or adolescent in an active role, in which the adult must accompany, allow them to experience the world at their own pace and in their own way, promote their liberty, but transmitting to them that aid it is there if they need it.

After a tour of the public policies implemented in Latin America, an intervention model is developed based on forming intergenerational networks of promoters of safe Internet use.

It is concluded that there is a need to defocus attention from browsing hours and content control to refocus on the quality of intergenerational communication with adults, empathic, non-blaming, and capable of providing adequate and timely support.