Children in the digital environment

Policy responses to false and misleading digital content

“…The challenge posed by both disinformation and misinformation is brought into focus in the context of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation's (CERI) 21st Century Children project by the increasing amount of time children spend in the digital environment. Even before the pandemic, the time 15-year-olds spent engaging with digital devices had grown in OECD countries by an average of around 60% between 2012 and 2018 (OECD, 2021 [10]). More recent evidence suggests that the rate of increase accelerated in the period 2019-2021 (Rideout, et al, 2022[11]).…”

“…One quarter of children in Australia were unable to answer when asked whether they had shared false or genuine content in the past six months (Notley et al, 2020 [71]). Results from PISA 2018 showed that, on average, that less than half of 15 yearold students in OECD countries were successful in distinguishing fact and opinion (OECD, 2021 [10]). These averages also mask significant variations between countries.…”

“…These averages also mask significant variations between countries. Ranging from around 60% in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States to less than 20% in Georgia, Indonesia, Kosovo, Morocco, Panama and the Philippines (OECD, 2021 [10]). Even in countries where children perform better, the averages mask an uneven distribution of the ability to distinguish fact and opinion, leaving much work to be done.…”

“…However, there is data from PISA showing that media literacy education targeting disinformation appears to be unevenly distributed. On average, 54% of 15-year-old students reported that they were trained at school to recognise whether information is biased or not (OECD, 2021 [10]). These figures were highest in Australia, Canada, Denmark and the United States (more than 70%) and lowest in Israel, Latvia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland (less than 45%).…”

“…Although the nature of much digital content that children engage with, including false or misleading content, is now video or image based, much of it still uses multiple modes of communication, including text. Because of this, individuals are increasingly required to acquire effective reading strategies and motivate themselves to persevere in the face of difficulties and conflicting information (OECD, 2021 [10]).…”