The new digital citizens
Digital platforms dominated by teen adults
The pandemic has effectively redesigned our lives for good and its impact on all spheres such as health, well-being, education and work has been well documented. Work and school being forced online has accelerated the adoption of digital tools; subsequently blurring the boundaries between ‘public’ and ‘private’ as work bleeds into the previously separate category of ‘personal time.’ Initially an outlet to cope with this new normal, social media use naturally grew into an overwhelming dependency.
While predominance of social media is well documented in a country that has the second-largest smartphone penetration in the world after China (Newzoo, 2019); one study found that social media consumption increased by a staggering 70% in the first five months of the pandemic. In 2020, India had more than 560 million Internet users and 400 million social media users with the average time spent on social media clocking around 2.4 hours, just short of the global average of 2.5 hours. Even more interesting to note is that the age group that dominated and continues to command most of these social networking platforms are teenagers. Teens and adolescents in the age group 13–19 years, constitute 31% of total social media users in India (Statista, 2021). YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat emerged as the most preferred social media platforms for teens and there are 69 million users on Instagram from India alone, most of whom are millennials and Gen Z users.
All of this elucidates the fact that these platforms are currently serving the needs of teen-adults. These platforms are seen as channels of expression, creating their own identities and exploring the outside world without the coloured lenses of their parents. Teens also view social media as a powerful tool of creating meaningful connections with peers and a wider social network. As a result these connections turn into valuable support systems and centres for knowledge creation. A UNICEF analysis also found that many adolescents and young people use digital spaces to develop their civic identities and express political stances in creative ways, claiming agency that may not be afforded to them in traditional civic spaces.
On the flip side, the almost unregulated penetration of social media platforms into the lives of teen-adults pose some serious threats. These platforms were not initially designed with teen-adults as their primary users and did not place safety and privacy as core values of their services. Supplementing this, through our research and conversations with parents we found that their number one concern is the unrestricted availability of content that is not age-appropriate. Second, is the concern of their own lack of awareness on how to ensure safe access to these indispensable resources for their children. As a response to these rising concerns of parents and the larger public, lawmakers are now stepping up to tighten the reins and hold these platforms accountable.
Consent and privacy bills
In parallel to parents’ concerns around digital platforms seeping into every aspect of our lives, numerous conversations have emerged about how “children’s voices are particularly absent, rarely consulted or included in deliberations” around online safety and privacy. Various bodies such as COPPA aim to curb the misuse of and protect the rights of children and teenagers, wherein all apps are required to take the consent of parents before allowing anyone of or under the age of 13 to use their platforms.
On the homefront with the ‘Personal Data Protection Bill 2018’, the child safety provisions in Chapter IV of the Bill aimed to prohibit commercial websites or online services ‘directed’ at children from profiling, tracking, behaviourally monitoring or targeting advertisements, irrespective of parent’s or guardian’s consent. This tracking and monitoring currently enables platforms to nudge users towards content that may be appealing to them, but dangerously pushes content solely based on what the user is consuming, rather than filtering what is suitable for them.
However, the bill might be tabled following various critiques including the generalisation of children between 13–17 year olds. This blanket grouping of all between the ages 13–17 as children is problematic as it takes away from the individual’s critical thinking abilities and decision making power. This may be even more important in conservative societies where the internet enables older and more mature children to help better understand their sexual orientation or explore questions of religion, among other sensitive issues that cannot be freely discussed. For a 17-year-old, privacy may mean privacy from parents as compared to a 13-year-old, who needs parental oversight. This was highlighted for us during our discussions with teens who articulated that while they are extremely cautious of who they interact with and how they present themselves on social media, their parents may not understand their need to be on platforms. As a result, they create two social media profiles- one that is ‘private’ and only shared with their friends; and one that is ‘public’ typically shared with family as they only post content related to their hobbies such as writing or art. On the other hand, some of the people we spoke to also spoke of ‘Finsta’ accounts-a fake account to share their authentic experiences with a restricted number of followers, while ensuring that their parents or any intrusive relatives do not have access to it. It then becomes a balancing act between protecting the child’s safety online while ensuring that their access is not curbed or cut off completely.
A tool for social good
An important phenomenon also worth discussion is how Gen Z is reshaping the purposes social media can serve. This generation is playing a critical role in not just passively adopting these platforms but are reclaiming their autonomy to subvert social media use. Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish environmental activist who uses social media to raise awareness about climate change, is a prominent example of this phenomenon.
Closer to home, while these platforms are maximised for various pertinent causes, the most recent example is the collective consciousness and effort of the youth to cope with the deadly second wave of the pandemic. Various accounts were set up to cater to the shortage of hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and plasma donors wherein volunteers from all over the country invested time in verifying leads, raising funds and delivering supplies. While the role of online youth Samaritans during the pandemic has been noted in Indian and diaspora circles, data on the phenomenon has not yet been compiled. (France24)
These acts and movements have been hailed and benchmarked the world over and experts have emphasised that in doing so the teen-adults are getting lessons on resilience, initiative and the constructive power of the Internet. The recent past only points to the fact that opportunities for youth digital participation are bigger than ever. However, along with this is the looming risk of safety and privacy online. With misinformation being ubiquitous and an almost complete absence of digital literacy programs in Indian schools, the question arises that where should the onus of educating the youth lie? These challenges will be considerable for accessible and safe digital youth engagement.
A platform’s role to help teens navigate their online safety and well-being
While it was clear to us that there is negligible formalised practises in place to ensure that young adults are cognisant of their rights and are digitally literate, our research revealed that parents looked to not just schools to educate their children but also the very platforms that they see as a threat. They expressed that while they cannot curtail or prohibit their children from accessing these platforms, they expect these service providers to equip them with tools to track and monitor their activities. A surprising number of parents stated that they dwell in practises to mirror their child’s phones, access their chats and regularly listen in on their conversations as a measure to ensure that the child is not going astray. They explained that this was primarily due to a sense of loss of control and helplessness in being unable to navigate the platforms as well as their children and also because they did not find any support from the service providers. Whilst parents articulated that formal systems and education via schools would be ideal, they currently look to these platforms to inform, guide and support them as well as children.
In line with parents’ concerns, the combined socio-political environment and policy pressure for the protection of younger users has compelled tech companies including Alphabet Inc., and Facebook Inc. to tighten their privacy controls specifically for teenagers. Players such as Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube are rigorously producing community guidelines and updating their privacy policies. YouTube is making videos uploaded by users ages 13 to 17 private by default soon. Instagram is already defaulting teens younger than 16 into private accounts, blocking some adults from interacting with teens on its platform, and restricting how advertisers can target teenagers. In the recent past, Facebook’s VP of youth products also stated in a blog post that initially these apps weren’t designed for people under the age of 13, and so the company is working towards creating new ways to stop those who are underage from signing up. On the other hand, the company also came under fire for discussing the launch of a new app targeted towards tweens; wherein they explained that through controlled parental guidance, it would become a safe space for children to explore the online world.
While experts continue to deliberate on how much of the onus should lie on online platforms to educate young consumers of their rights, social media poses as a double edged sword that needs to be carefully meandered keeping the young adults and their needs at the nucleus.
An indispensable double edged sword
Gen Zs are true digital natives as has been studied and documented over the years. Social media has become an invaluable and inclusive tool for young adults to explore who they are, educate themselves and also connect with the wider world. While pertinent questions around the intrusive interaction between data and our lives continue to be discussed; social media is an inseparable part of our being, and almost a necessity as voiced by parents and children alike. The main challenge that presents itself then to designers and educators is how to encourage ‘conversations not confrontation’ between parents and children when the latter engage with platforms in a way parents do not deem fit. Thus, educating not just young adults about their digital rights but also empowering parents and building their confidence with online tools becomes key.
— Megha Mukherji (Research Consultant, Xeno Co-lab)
