At a glance: the IMPACT of INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

Children today need what children have always needed to become healthy and productive adults — caring parents, a safe place to live, a strong education, and health care, among other basics. What we set out to answer is whether Information & Communications Technology (ICT) can help address these needs in new and sometimes more effective ways. Our analysis of existing research and data finds that when applied effectively by parents, teachers, doctors, and others, Information & Communications Technology holds the potential to be a powerful conduit to opportunity. Below are our key findings.

1. We identified four key areas in children’s lives where ICT can have a positive impact: Improved health; Educational achievement; Economic opportunity; and Community and civic participation.

2. Although ICT impacts on youth outcomes is an underdeveloped field, available evidence shows that there is a growing connection between ICT and improved opportunity. We found some of the strongest evidence of positive impact as well as some of the most exciting untapped potential of ICT in the area of improving the health of children.

4. In the realm of educational achievement — the most widely discussed of the four areas — there is early evidence of ICT’s potential to enhance student learning, especially for lower-achieving students.

5. Evidence of the economic opportunity provided young people through ICT comes less from social science research and more from labor market data and employment practices — as the majority of workplaces now use computers and the Internet as normal operating technologies, and as young people use the Internet to find jobs.

6. ICT’s ability to increase community and civic participation among youth appears to hold considerable promise, although there is still relatively little empirical evidence in this arena.

7. Although young people with disabilities perhaps stand to benefit most from the various kinds of assistance that technology can offer, we found little research on actual uses of these tools or on their impacts on children with disabilities.

What the Research on Impacts Adds Up To
There are clear limitations to the research on technology’s impacts on youth. What is known is often based on research involving small numbers of people for short periods of time, sometimes focuses on adults and not children, and in many cases does not address some of the most important questions.

However, the relevant research provides a starting point from which to monitor progress in providing digital opportunity, begin applying early lessons to practice and policy, and develop the next generation of needed research.