Digital media: risks and opportunities

Opportunities and Risks of the Internet for Young People

Beyond their entertaining aspect, the internet and mobile phones offer a new form of socialization, exchange, and access to essential knowledge for today’s children and teenagers. These new technologies represent a tremendous opportunity to improve the quality of life of young people around the world, putting limitless knowledge just a click away in all essential areas of life (education, health, science, culture…).

But the progress of the digital era also comes with drawbacks. This virtual revolution has created dangers and risks, often mirroring those in the real world, that young connected users must face.

UNESCO has identified and classified these risks, which include exposure to pedophilia-related content, hate speech, and fake news. Other risks are linked to inappropriate advertising, commercial fraud, or manipulation of personal data.

Education is the best way to respond to these threats. Through media literacy, it is essential for parents and educators to teach young people the best practices to stay safe online.

This includes properly managing one’s digital identity—adjusting social media settings, protecting personal data—and practicing digital citizenship: respecting others’ privacy, thinking before posting, and respecting peers’ image rights. These basic rules are essential to preventing harmful issues such as cyberbullying.

Raising Awareness of Filter Bubbles

Digital platforms such as Google and Facebook use algorithms to suggest content based on our user behavior—our past clicks, likes, purchases, and browsing history. Through these algorithms, tech companies offer us personalized navigation based on predictive analysis designed to anticipate our expectations. For web giants, the goal is to influence our behavior for commercial purposes.

The influence of algorithms is far from trivial. It exposes internet users—especially young ones—to the problem of filter bubbles. This refers to “the state in which an internet user finds themselves when the information they access online is the result of personalization implemented without their knowledge”.

The term “filter bubble” refers to the isolation produced by this mechanism: each user accesses a different and unique version of the web. This risks trapping them in a narrow digital environment, repeatedly feeding them the same types of content. Such algorithmic confinement greatly reduces sources of information, lowers attention, and undermines critical thinking. The user is then deprived of the openness promised by the internet, missing exposure to the diversity of ideas and opinions—an essential element of intellectual growth.

This is why media education must help citizens understand the dangers of algorithmic confinement. Understanding its mechanics is a key step to breaking free from it and broadening one’s sources. This is a major condition for the internet to live up to its original promise of empowerment and freedom.