Engaging, Safe, and Evidence-Based: What Science Tells Us Adolescents Need When Online
This council report from the National Scientific Council on Adolescence offers research-based suggestions for policymakers and technology companies to ensure that digital tech used by middle-school-aged youth promotes positive development and keeps young users safe online.
Downloadable PDF: Council Report 2: Engaging, Safe, and Evidence-Based
Early adolescence—roughly ages 10 to 13—is a key time of exploration, discovery, rapid learning, and social and emotional change. It is also the point when many young people begin spending time in a larger online world.
Digital technology is not all good or all bad, but during early adolescence, its effects can be amplified. We now know enough from research on brain and social development and about the impacts of technology during these years that we can recommend standards and regulations for digital tech used by this age group that can support and protect our young people.
A new report from the National Scientific Council on Adolescence (NSCA) outlines the benefits and risks of digital technology during these years and offers specific suggestions for ways digital tech used by early adolescents can:
- Support healthy development and wellbeing
- Keep young users safe
- Incorporate and advance the best available research
- Provide access to positive learning to all young adolescents
To learn more, download the full report, Engaging, Safe, and Evidence-Based: What Science Tells Us About How to Promote Positive Development and Decrease Risk in Online Spaces for Early Adolescents.
Overview
Summary of Recommendations
Online Panel Discussion
Report authors Nick Allen, Ron Dahl, Jacqueline Nesi, and Candice Odgers talk with report lead Jennifer Pfeifer about the benefits and risks of digital technology during early adolescence, and how research-informed standards and regulations could support and protect youth online.
