ABSTRACT
This entry presents research on the complex topic of children and information technology. Covered are children aged 0–18. Information technology has changed significantly over the last few years as has the research covered by Library and Information Science. This entry includes a brief overview of research between the years 1995 and 2009 and more in-depth coverage of the years 2010–2014. Children have increased using information technologies in every aspect of their lives to play, learn, communicate, and participate in online ecologies. A multidisciplinary perspective is taken to show that children are engaged participants, connected continuously using many technologies, including mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and creative content developers, but who still are plagued with poor understanding of how to effectively use retrieval systems. The technological, psychosocial, ethical, security, and legal issues children encounter while online are also presented.
