Data-Driven Parenting
AI technologies are rapidly becoming integral to children’s daily lives, embedded in tools like assistive learning platforms, interactive robots, smart home devices, and generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, which many children regularly interact with. These tools offer significant advantages, like personalized educational support through intelligent tutoring systems and enhanced online safety measures to protect children. However, the increasing integration of AI into children’s environments also raises serious concerns.
With the rising debate related to smartphones and parents’ fear of potential harms, digital monitoring technologies have been seen as such technologies to provide the safety that is craved by modern families. Digital parenting toolkits are commonly adopted by families to help parents and caregivers to oversee and limit their children’s behaviours online and offline. However, there has been little evidence supporting their efficacy and their overall impact on promoting well-being for children and families.
Thus, in this recent article we wrote for the British Academy, Dr Jun Zhao, together with Dr Ekaterina Hertog, Professor of AI and Society at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford; and Dr Netta Weinstein of Psychology at the University of Reading, outlined the benefits and risks of digital monitoring technologies for modern families and offers recommendations for policymakers working in this important area of digital policy.