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Childhood in the digital age
Childhood in the digital age

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Week 2: Social identities in cyberspace

Introduction

In this second week of the course you will focus specifically on children’s social development, investigating the themes of communication, friendship, play spaces and identity, and comparing face-to-face experiences with those in the virtual world. The following video introduces some intriguing questions that are being asked about children’s social identities in virtual environments.

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Childhood, as we know, is a period of major steps in physical, social and mental development; it is a time when children experiment to make sense of the world. What role do digital technologies play in shaping early childhood experiences? Do they provide new opportunities for social awareness, such as establishing friendship groups and forming new identities, or do they, in fact, hinder or disrupt children’s social development?