Digital Stewardship: Supporting Children’s Wellbeing Online

Young people in the UK are facing overlapping crises. From worsening mental health and social division to fears about the future, especially climate change. The digital world often makes these problems worse, as it wasn’t built with children’s well-being in mind. Digital stewardship is essential in promoting healthy development of children.

Traditional responses, like banning or limiting screen time, don’t work well. Research shows these restrictions can backfire, failing to fix the real issues or equip young people with the skills they need to thrive online and offline.

The attached article, “Cultivating Capability: How Proactive Digital Stewardship Can Foster a Happier, More Prosperous Generation”, argues for a proactive digital stewardship approach.

Instead of trying to block risks, this approach focuses on helping young people build confidence, resilience, and digital skills. It’s rooted in two ideas:

• The Wellbeing Economy: that a healthy society and environment matter just as much as economic growth.

• Positive Youth Development (PYD): a framework that develops five key strengths in young people: confidence, competence, connection, character, and caring.

Liaura is a supervised, ad-free digital platform designed around skill-building and personal growth, allowing for important developmental experiences.

Read the full article here.