Ethics, Youth, and Digital Media

The proliferation of digital technologies and ongoing expansion of the Internet have resulted in competing claims regarding the ethical implications of growing up and living in a digital world. Historically, emerging technologies have been met consistently with skepticism and concerns about their implications for morality, especially the morality of youth users. With that context in mind, it is essential to examine any claims about the moral or ethical consequences of digital life for youth in a careful and critical manner. Furthermore, it is important to bring relevant empirical data about moral development and psychology to bear when examining relationships between morality, ethics, and digital life.

This entry provides a brief overview of relevant background on moral development and of the concepts of morality and ethics. Then ...