By John Coleman, clinical and developmental psychologist and senior research fellow, Oxford University
The digital world offers untold opportunities, especially for children and young people. It provides endless fascination, an entry into social life, a medium for instant communication and a means of exploring identity. However, it hardly needs stating that there are risks associated with the online world, and for a variety of reasons young people can be more vulnerable to these risks than adults.
One reason for this is the cognitive limitations of children and adolescents – the lack of future time perspective, the difficulties in thinking ahead and, for teenagers, the dominance of reward-seeking behaviour. The role of the peer group is important too, and the need to fit in can sometimes override an awareness of the consequences of risky behaviour.
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