Building child-friendly digital spaces

In our lab, we develop prototypes for safer and healthier digital environments together with young people. In our design process, we use a checklist for digital children’s rights developed by the Digital Futures Commission of the 5Rights Foundation.

Checklist

Ask yourself, how do the 11 principles apply to your digital product or service? Identify which steps you need to take to ensure your digital product or service respects children’s rights.

Principle 1: Equity and diversity Do you treat all children equally, fairly and support vulnerable children?
Take steps to be inclusive, treat everyone fairly and provide for diverse needs and circumstances

Principle 2: Best interests Are children’s best interests a primary consideration in product design?
Take steps to embed children’s best interests in product development and design.

Principle 3: Consultation Are children meaningfully consulted in developing your product?
Take steps to engage and listen to the views of children in product development and design.

Principle 4: Age appropriate Is your product appropriate for child users or adaptable for children of different ages?
Take steps to develop products that are age appropriate by design and consider using age assurance.

Principle 5: Responsible Do you review and comply with laws and policies relevant to child rights?
Take steps to comply with legal frameworks, provide remedy as needed, and conduct a Child Rights Impact Assessment.

Principle 6: participation Does your product enable children to participate in digital public spaces?
Take steps to enable children’s expression, civic engagement and access to information.

Principle 7: Privacy Have you adopted privacy-by-design in product development and use?
Take steps to embed privacy-by-design and data protection in product development and use.

Principle 8: Safety Have you adopted safety by-design in product development and use?
Take steps to embed safety-by-design in product development and use.

Principle 9: Wellbeing Does your product enhance not harm children’s mental or physical health and wellbeing?
Take steps to enhance and not harm the health and wellbeing of all children, including through use of inclusive design.

Principle 10: Development Does your product enable children’s learning, imagination, play and belonging?
Take steps to enable children’s learning, free play, sociability and belonging, and their fullest development.

Principle 11: Agency Have you taken steps to reduce compulsive and exploitative product features?
Take steps to support child users’ decision-making and reduce exploitative features and business models that harm their agency.