Digital Inclusion

The issue of digital inclusion has long preoccupied global digital policymakers, and, internationally, interdisciplinary research has examined how to best conceptualize, study and inform policy responses to the changing socio-technical landscape without amplifying existing or creating new inequities (Third 2016). Studies by coalitions including Global Kids Online, EU Kids Online, Digital Media and Learning, RErights.org and, indeed, the Technology and Wellbeing Roundtable all contribute to ongoing conversations about the relationship between inequality and children’s and young people’s digital technology access, use and participation. Crucially, these initiatives also reflect on the role of evidence in identifying the challenges and crafting strategies to minimize the potential negative impacts of the digital. Focusing on the Australian example, this chapter explores how digital inclusion has been framed in high-income, anglophone countries.