Preadolescents and Their Online World: Activities,Opportunities,and Challenges

Abstract

To thrive in today’s digital media society, preadolescents (8–12-year-olds) should adaptively navigate online opportunities and challenges. Supporting them in this requires a clear understanding of how they experience their online world. Therefore, this study examined preadolescents’ online activities and their perceptions of online opportunities and challenges using qualitative methods. In a participatory project, 129 preadolescents explored their online world with interactive activities. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted on the verbatim transcripts of the audio-recorded sessions and photographs of the work created during sessions. The results provided nuanced and comprehensive insights into preadolescents’ online activities, opportunities, and challenges, illustrating the complex and ever-evolving nature of their online world. This study underscores the need for additional research involving preadolescents to better understand what they need to thrive in today’s digital media society.

Children are growing up in an interactive digital media society and are avid users of digital devices and applications (Beresford et al., 2023; Rideout et al., 2022). While digital media may provide children with various opportunities (e.g., entertainment, education, and communication), it may also present risks (e.g., privacy violations, misinformation, and hostile communication; Livingstone et al., 2019; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021; Reid Chassiakos et al., 2016). For children to adaptively handle online opportunities and risks in the current digital media society, it is important to foster their digital resilience.

Digital resilience refers to a dynamic process where digital media users adaptively use strategies to navigate online opportunities and risks, enabling them to thrive in the digital media society (Hammond et al., 2023; Lee & Hancock, 2023; Masten et al., 2021; Stavropoulos et al., 2022; Sun et al., 2022). Examples of such strategies include preventive (e.g., avoiding platforms) and reactive (e.g., support seeking) strategies (Smahel & Wright, 2014). Research shows that not all children perform these strategies to the same degree (e.g., Vandoninck et al., 2013), leaving some more vulnerable to online risks and less able to benefit from online opportunities. To effectively foster children’s digital resilience, it is vital to gain a clear understanding of children’s lived experiences and perceptions of their online activities, opportunities, and risks (Anselma et al., 2018; Minkler, 2005). This makes qualitative methods essential, as they allow for more in-depth exploration of children’s lived experiences and perceptions (Anselma et al., 2018; Jansz et al., 2015), and may therefore offer novel and complementary insights to those gained from primarily quantitative approaches (e.g., Beresford et al., 2023; Bucknell Bossen & Kottasz, 2020; Dias & Duarte, 2022; Rideout et al., 2022). Building on increasing efforts to include children’s perspectives in research on youth digital well-being (Davis et al., 2025), this study uses qualitative methods and an inductive approach to explore the online activities, opportunities, and risks as perceived by children between 8 and 12 years of age, also referred to as preadolescents.

Preadolescents as Media Users During Their Transition to Adolescence

Preadolescents (8–12-year-olds) are important media users to understand. As highlighted in a literature review (Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021), they experience several developmental changes during their transition into adolescence, which create specific risks and opportunities for their digital media use. First, as preadolescents transition into adolescence, they undergo neurobiological and socio-emotional changes, which causes them to experience an increased sensitivity to peers, rewards, and sensation seeking (Dahl et al., 2018; Eccles, 1999; Icenogle & Cauffman, 2021; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021; Valkenburg & Piotrowski, 2017). The interplay between preadolescents’ heightened sensitivity to peers, rewards, and sensation seeking and their engagement with digital media may create specific opportunities and risks. For example, social media platforms may provide opportunities to enhance social connection but may also expose preadolescents to features that amplify their feelings of social evaluation (e.g., receiving likes; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021; Timeo et al., 2020).

Second, preadolescents have an increased tendency for social exploration and self-expression, which contribute to their identity development (Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021). Digital media may, for example, provide preadolescents with opportunities to express themselves, such as disclosing personal information to their friends through instant messaging (Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021; Valkenburg et al., 2011). At the same time, preadolescents’ tendency for social exploration and self-expression through digital media may expose them to risks, such as hate speech and cyberbullying (Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021).

Last, during this transition, preadolescents strive for independence and autonomy (Dahl et al., 2018; Eccles, 1999; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021). While digital connectivity may depend on a country’s and household’s wealth (UNICEF, 2020), large-scale surveys conducted in Western countries show that preadolescence is also the period when young people are increasingly online (Rideout et al., 2022) and begin to own smartphones (Beresford et al., 2023; Ofcom, 2023). This allows preadolescents to explore their emerging identity and peer relationships, all relatively independent from adult supervision (Dahl et al., 2018; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021). However, this also implies unsupervised digital media use which may increase their exposure to online risks (Chen & Shi, 2018; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021).

Taken together, the interplay between preadolescents’ developmental changes and their increased online access and autonomy may create specific risks and opportunities for their digital media use (Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021). Considerable research has explored media use among preadolescents including associations with body satisfaction (Digennaro, 2023), social exclusion (Timeo et al., 2020), and sleep quality (Bruni et al., 2015). However, previous research on how the online world is experienced (i.e., activities, opportunities, and risks) has mainly focused on older children (i.e., above twelve years old; e.g., Dunne et al., 2010) or broader age ranges (e.g., Dias & Duarte, 2022; Jansz et al., 2015) which often only partly cover preadolescents (e.g., 11–12 years). Qualitative research, specifically focusing on preadolescents’ perceptions on their online activities, opportunities, and risks, is still relatively scarce, suggesting a lack of consideration for their specific developmental needs as media users. Given this gap, a deeper understanding of preadolescents’ online activities, opportunities, and risks from their own perspective is essential, which is the main goal of this study.

Exploring Preadolescents’ Online World: Activities, Opportunities, and Risks

Online Activities

To explore the online world of preadolescents, Shao’s (2009) analytical framework is beneficial as a starting point since it categorizes online activities into three categories: consuming, participating, and producing. Consuming refers to relatively passive consumption of online content, such as watching, reading, and viewing. Participating refers to user-to-user and user-to-content interaction, such as posting comments and instant messaging. Producing refers to creating and sharing content online, such as pictures and vlogs. Subsequent research has interpreted these three categories along a dimension of effort investment, with consuming representing minimal investment, producing representing maximal investment, and participating falling in between (Jansz et al., 2015).

To our knowledge, only three studies have investigated online activities among older preadolescents (i.e., 11–12 years; Bucknell Bossen & Kottasz, 2020; Jansz et al., 2015) and a broader age range (10–16 years; Dias & Duarte, 2022) using this framework. These studies revealed that children engage in all three types of activities on TikTok (Bucknell Bossen & Kottasz, 2020; Dias & Duarte, 2022) and the internet (Jansz et al., 2015). Consuming (e.g., watching videos) was the most common, followed by participating, with Dutch preadolescents reporting communicating activities so often that Jansz and colleagues (2015) introduced “communication with others” as a separate category to Shao’s (2009) framework. While these studies provide useful insights into children’s online activities, updated research among preadolescents is crucial. Due to the fast-paced development of digital media, preadolescents’ engagement with digital media is continuously changing, necessitating more current insights. The present study aims to provide such updated insights.

Opportunities of the Online World

One way to look at the online world from an opportunity perspective is by identifying the needs it may fulfil, as outlined by the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory. This theory states that individuals use media with specific motives to gratify certain needs (Katz et al., 1974; Ruggiero, 2000) or in other words, to gain certain opportunities or advantages from digital media use. Studies have used the U&G theory to reveal why children perform certain online activities on the internet (Jansz et al., 2015) and specific platforms such as TikTok (Bucknell Bossen & Kottasz, 2020; Dias & Duarte, 2022), Bebo (Dunne et al., 2010), and YouTube (Scott et al., 2023). Across these studies, some of the most frequently reported uses and gratifications of children’s (0–17 years) online activities included entertainment, escapism, information, self-expression, and socialization.

Although these studies offer valuable insights into online opportunities for children, they predominantly focused on specific platforms (e.g., YouTube, Bebo; Dunne et al., 2010; Scott et al., 2023), except for one study from a decade ago which focused on the internet (Jansz et al., 2015). Considering that preadolescents are avid users of various digital devices and applications (Beresford et al., 2023; Rideout et al., 2022), research that is not limited to specific platforms is necessary to gain comprehensive insights into their online experiences. In addition, this broader perspective is crucial in enabling preadolescents to share their online experiences without the restrictions of platform-specific research, ensuring their voices are better represented and understood. To address this, the current study examines preadolescents’ online experiences from a broader perspective (i.e., online world).

Risks of the Online World

While digital media provides preadolescents with opportunities to fulfil the previously mentioned needs, the use of digital media also comes with risks. These are often categorized into four types of risks (i.e., 4C’s classification; Livingstone & Stoilova, 2021) and have been reported among research with preadolescents: content (e.g., nudity, gore; Smahel & Wright, 2014), contact (e.g., stalking; Smahel & Wright, 2014), conduct (e.g., bullying, aggressive communication; Beresford et al., 2023; Ofcom, 2023; Smahel & Wright, 2014), and contract risks (e.g., hacking, blackmail; Smahel & Wright, 2014). Risks that relate to more than one of the four types of risks are referred to as cross-cutting risks (e.g., privacy violations, addiction; Livingstone & Stoilova, 2021; Smahel & Wright, 2014).

Although the 4C’s classification provides a practical framework for understanding online risks (Livingstone & Stoilova, 2021), the concept of risk may be perceived differently by children compared to adults (Smahel & Wright, 2014). Research from a decade ago by Smahel and colleagues (2014) addressed this by avoiding the term “risk” and instead examined problematic online situations to capture a broader range of disruptive experiences. Their findings revealed challenges that were not captured by the 4C’s classification, such as technical problems (e.g., slow internet) and commercials (e.g., cannot be closed). Thus, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of preadolescents’ online experiences beyond “risks” and from their own perspective, we will explore their online challenges from a broader perspective by examining the disadvantages of their online world.

The Present Study

The current study aims to expand and extend research on preadolescents’ online world in three ways. First, we investigate preadolescents as young as eight years old (up until 12 years). By doing so, we contribute to research by examining an important group of media users that has been largely overlooked by prior studies. Second, we use qualitative methods and a broader perspective to explore preadolescents’ online experiences, focusing on their perceptions of their online activities, opportunities, and challenges. In doing so, we advance existing research by providing comprehensive insights beyond specific platforms and adult-focused conceptualizations of risk, ensuring that the findings are representative of preadolescents’ actual experiences. Third, this study aims to provide updated insights into preadolescents’ online world. Given that the two most relevant qualitative studies on preadolescents’ online activities and their perceptions of its opportunities and challenges are a decade old (Jansz et al., 2015; Smahel & Wright, 2014) and that the digital media environment is rapidly evolving, updated insights are imperative. Importantly, these insights are the initial steps toward enhancing our understanding of preadolescents’ digital resilience, which can contribute to the development of effective intervention initiatives tailored to address the needs and concerns of the current generation preadolescents. Altogether, we aim to gain comprehensive insights in preadolescents’ online world by exploring what online activities they perform on digital media (RQ1) and what online opportunities and challenges they perceive in their online world (RQ2).

Method

The current study was embedded within a larger participatory project which enabled preadolescents to explore their online world as co-researchers through interactive activities and discussions (de Jong et al., 2024). The larger project took place between January 2023 and January 2024. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Review Committee Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (ETH2223-0221 and ETH2223-0421). To answer the study’s research questions, we focused on data from the first two sessions of the larger project (see Data Collection Procedure).

Participant Recruitment

Three primary schools (year 6, 7, and 8) were recruited from average to high socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhoods in one of the largest cities of the Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2023). Schools, caregivers, and preadolescents were informed about the project (i.e., topic and duration), the study (i.e., study aim, data collection consisting of audio-recordings and creations), and their rights and children’s rights as participants (i.e., anonymity, confidentiality, and consent procedure). The schools gave active written consent to participate in the project and the study. We obtained passive written consent from caregivers and passive verbal assent from preadolescents with the following considerations: (1) schools integrated the research project into their curriculum, making passive consent suitable to ensure all children could participate while collecting data only from those who consented; (2) passive consent minimized the collection of personal data (i.e., personally identifiable information); and (3) research has indicated that caregivers perceive passive consent to be equally appropriate for co-creation studies and acceptable for focus group studies (van Woudenberg, Rozendaal, & Buijzen, 2024). We ensured that all participants’ consent was informed and voluntary with various methods. For example, caregivers had at least two weeks to review the information letters and opt-out of the study and received reminders from teachers through the usual communication channels. Furthermore, prior to the start of the project, preadolescents were informed about the project, the study, and their rights as participants through a short in-person presentation. Following this, preadolescents gave passive verbal assent after being asked if they understood the information shared, if they had any questions, and if they wanted to opt out of the study. Preadolescents with opt-outs still took part in the project, as it was considered part of the school curriculum, but none of their data were collected for the study.

Study Participants

A total of 157 preadolescents participated in the project. Preadolescents were divided into small groups by their teacher(s), with a maximum of six classmates per group (Braun & Clarke, 2013). There was one exception of a group of seven, as one child joined the project after the groups were formed. Two caregivers opted out of the study, meaning that their child’s audio-recordings and creations were not collected. Additionally, eight preadolescents opted out of audio-recordings. As data collection was (largely) at the group level and anonymous, all children in the groups to which these opt-out preadolescents belonged to were excluded from data collection (i.e., we did not collect data from any child within groups with participating but non-consenting children). As a result, data were not collected from a total of 28 preadolescents.

The final sample consisted of 129 preadolescents (58.9% female) divided across 23 groups: seven groups in year 6 (41 preadolescents, 70.7% female), seven groups in year 7 (41 preadolescents, 58.5% female), and nine groups in year 8 (47 preadolescents, 48.9% female). Generally, in the Netherlands, children in year 6 are 9 to 10 years old, in year 7, 10 to 11 years old, and in year 8, 11 to 12 years old.

For contextual background, we collected data on the online platforms preadolescents reported to know of and/or used (see Data Collection Procedure). To access online platforms, preadolescents expressed that they used some form of digital device, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. They engaged with or were familiar with various online platforms, including social media and messaging (e.g., YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Snapchat), gaming (e.g., Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, FIFA), video-on-demand (e.g., Netflix, Disney+), music (e.g., Spotify, YouTube Music), informational, educational, and (e)book (e.g., Google, Duolingo), online shopping (e.g., Temu, AliExpress), art and design (e.g., CapCut, Ibis Paint), and dating and sexuality (e.g., Tinder, Pornhub) platforms (see Appendix A).

Data Collection Procedure and Research Team

The project was conducted in Dutch, took place at preadolescents’ schools during school time, and consisted of five sessions, each lasting around 60 minutes. Each group of preadolescents was guided by a researcher from the research team (i.e., adult facilitator) which consisted of researchers with a social sciences background. Eleven of them identified as female and one as male. The adult facilitators who were also part of the author team, had prior knowledge and research experience on the topic of children and media. The adult facilitators provided instructions in child-friendly language, either in-person or through a short animation video, which focused on the explanation of central concepts and steps of the activities. In addition, adult facilitators asked facilitating questions to aid completion of the activities (e.g., rewording instructions) and probing questions to get preadolescents to elaborate on their answers (e.g., asking for examples). The manual for adult facilitators can be found on OSF at https://osf.io/ngdsz. Furthermore, adult facilitators promoted a safe space by taking a non-judgemental and empathetic stance to encourage children to freely voice their opinions and express their feelings. All sessions were audio-recorded and preadolescents’ creations (i.e., work preadolescents created during the sessions) were photographed.

In session 1 of the project, preadolescents engaged in three activities that focused on mind-mapping their online world. The first activity served as an icebreaker in which preadolescents made their name tag and decorated it with something they enjoyed doing on their digital media. In the second activity, preadolescents individually made a mind map of their online world. In the centre, preadolescents placed the key theme “my online world” and expanded it with primary branches showing online platforms they used on their digital media. From these primary branches, secondary branches emerged to show the online activities they performed on these online platforms. Lastly, tertiary branches were added to show why they performed these online activities. In the last activity, preadolescents discussed their individual mind maps with their group, while the adult facilitator made a group mind map with the key theme “our online world” and asked facilitating and probing questions.

In session 2, preadolescents engaged in two activities that focused on visualizing and evaluating the (dis)advantages of their online world. In the first activity, preadolescents were split into subgroups (i.e., maximum of three preadolescents per subgroup) to identify and note advantages of their online world on post-its (i.e., what they found fun, good, nice, and useful), reflecting their perceived online opportunities. Thereafter, preadolescents were individually asked to share their most important opportunity with their group and adult facilitator. In the second activity, in subgroups, preadolescents wrote disadvantages of their online world on post-its (i.e., what they disliked or found annoying, irritating, dangerous, and difficult), reflecting their perceived online challenges. The subgroups then placed each challenge on a scale that ranged from neutral to very important. In case of disagreements on the placement, additional post-its were created which enabled preadolescents to individually place a challenge on the scale to ensure each child’s perception was represented. Thereafter, a discussion took place with their group and adult facilitator with a focus on challenges that were: (1) commonly identified; (2) identified as very important; and (3) placed in contrasting positions on the scale by the subgroups (e.g., neutral versus very important). For a full description of the larger participatory project, see de Jong and colleagues (2024).

Analysis Procedure

The sessions were audio-recorded with a smartphone without internet connection and transcribed verbatim. The audio-recordings were transcribed using Amberscript (i.e., transcription service that uses AI to convert audio into text). Erasmus University Rotterdam has conducted relevant security and privacy checks and concluded required agreements with Amberscript to ensure that the processing of data by Amberscript is done in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. Due to the nature of the discussions (i.e., noisy environment with preadolescents talking over each other), several adult facilitators manually corrected and adjusted the transcripts. We then analysed these verbatim transcripts and creations—mind maps and post-its—as data. Data from session 1 were analysed to address the first research question, focusing on what preadolescents do online. Similarly, data from session 2 were analysed to address the second research question, which examined preadolescents’ online opportunities and challenges.

Based on both the verbatim transcripts and creations, we conducted an inductive thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti (Version 23). The complete dataset (i.e., transcripts and creations from sessions 1 and 2) was open-coded following Braun and Clarke’s (2013) reflexive thematic analysis approach. For each group, the primary researcher (i.e., first author) inductively open-coded the creations, followed by the corresponding transcript, and repeated this process for all groups. In this coding process, codes reflected the semantic content (i.e., stated experience and opinion) rather than implicit meanings within the data (i.e., assumptions underlying the data) as only written data was analysed. From these inductive codes, we constructed and defined themes through an iterative process of reviewing, refining, and checking for fit with the dataset. More specifically, the wording, content, structure of, and relations between the developed themes were based on the analysis of the data and iterative discussions with all members of the research team to ensure that all the (sub)themes were internally consistent and distinctive from one another.

Quality Control: Validity, Reliability, and Reflexivity

Five techniques were used to secure the validity and reliability of the study. First, adult facilitators were extensively trained prior to the start of the project and received ongoing supervision throughout the project to ensure they asked facilitating and probing questions, while avoiding suggestive questions, and fostered a safe space for the preadolescents. Second, member checking was employed by instructing adult facilitators to paraphrase or summarize preadolescents’ responses and checking whether their summaries were complete or if additions or nuances were necessary (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Third, peer debriefing was enabled in data collection by constantly reflecting on and discussing the sessions among adult facilitators. Similar practices were in play during the analysis phase (Patton, 2002). Fourth, researcher triangulation was enabled in both data collection and analysis, as several researchers took part in the study. More specifically, the sessions were conducted by several adult facilitators which cancelled out individual biases. As part of this researcher triangulation, several researchers were involved in the data analysis, which compensated for potential single-researcher biases (Braun & Clarke, 2013; Denzin, 1989). Fifth, a thick description was employed by providing quotes from preadolescents to illustrate the constructed themes, providing a link between the empirical material and the analytic constructs. This enables a comprehensive understanding and judgement of the constructed themes and their relationship to the empirical data.

In addition, the research team critically reflected on and acknowledged the role of the researcher positionality that may have shaped the data collection or analysis throughout the study (i.e., reflexivity; Braun & Clarke, 2013). To facilitate this reflexiveness, the primary researcher kept an extensive research journal that recorded the research teams’ thoughts, feelings, and reflections throughout the study. This included, but was not limited to, adult facilitators’ reflections after each session and memo writing (i.e., noting thoughts that emerged during the coding and analysis process; Braun & Clarke, 2013).

Results

What Do Preadolescents Do Online?

Online Activities

We constructed eleven themes to describe preadolescents’ online activities. Appendix B presents the themes and subthemes with illustrative quotes. Preadolescents expressed that they performed a variety of online activities, with some being more central than others. We discuss these activities in the order of their prominence across preadolescents in our study, starting with those that were most discussed by preadolescents.

Consuming

One of the activities many preadolescents mentioned was consuming, which referred to watching, reading, or listening to online content. This included activities such as watching videos, films, and series, listening to music and podcasts, scrolling, reading, and viewing photos. Some of these activities (e.g., watching films, listening to music) were performed together with others, such as family and friends.

Playing

Another online activity that was often mentioned by preadolescents was playing with digital media. It primarily included activities such as gaming and using filters on Snapchat. Preadolescents reported to play alone and with family, friends, and others, as illustrated by this preadolescent “… Yeah, I play obbies a lot and those are just parkour. That’s just parkour. I play a lot with friends that you can add there” (Child 38, female, year 6).

Exchanging

Preadolescents also often exchanged (i.e., receiving and/or sending) communication through text, visuals, or (video)calls. Based on whether the preadolescent was the receiver and/or sender of the communication, activities were categorized into three subthemes. The first subtheme, interacting, referred to interacting with others through digital media (e.g., calling, apping, snapping, chatting) in which preadolescents were the receiver and sender of communication. The second subtheme, sharing, referred to sending or (re)posting content or creations (e.g., videos, photos, stories) in which preadolescents were the sender of communication. The last subtheme, receiving, referred to receiving online content (e.g., messages, snaps, notifications) in which preadolescents were the receiver of communication.

Searching

Preadolescents often mentioned searching for information or online content, which commonly included activities such as searching for inspiration, information, and photos. For example, they expressed that they looked “for inspiration” (Child 47, female, year 7) and “new wallpapers” (Child 123, female, year 8) on Pinterest and “cheats for Fortnite” on Google (Group 20, year 8).

Managing

Another activity expressed by preadolescents was labelled as managing, which consisted of three subthemes, each referring to what was being managed by preadolescents. The first subtheme, managing online content, referred to organizing online content and mainly included activities such as downloading or deleting applications or games, making boards, saving videos and photos, and making playlists. For example, preadolescents mentioned to “have quite a lot of boards” on Pinterest where you can “put all the things you like on it” (Child 64, female, year 7) or to make playlists alone or with family and friends on music platforms. The second subtheme, managing online contacts or communities, generally included activities such as making or having group(chats) with friends, making friends, and joining Discord servers with fellow gamers. The last subtheme, managing online accounts, mainly referred to making or having online accounts (e.g., channels, accounts, servers) on social media and messaging and gaming platforms.

Creating

Preadolescents shared that they made and edited creations which we referred to as creating. For example, they expressed that they made videos and photos of their own cat for Instagram or football videos of professional football players on TikTok. In addition, preadolescents expressed that they sometimes created videos and photos with friends.

Monitoring

Furthermore, preadolescents monitored their (online) world, or in other words, stayed updated on topics and people. More specifically, they expressed that they mainly followed others and the news through social media and messaging and news and information platforms. For example, they would follow famous people and the news on Instagram and “stalk” their friends’ shared locations on Snapchat (Child 107, female, year 8).

Reacting

Some preadolescents mentioned reacting to online content, which often included activities such as liking videos and posting comments. For example, they reported that they liked videos or posted comments on social media and messaging platforms.

Transacting

Several preadolescents also performed transacting activities, which referred to spending or earning (in-game) money. Both activities were often related to gaming or online shopping. For example, on gaming platforms, they mentioned spending Robux on Roblox and earning money from winning tournaments on Fortnite. On online shopping platforms, they shared examples like buying a phone case on Temu and selling virtual pets on Starpets.

Teasing

Preadolescents also expressed that they annoyed, trolled, prank called, scammed, or spammed others, which we referred to as teasing. Teasing was often discussed by children in a provocative or joking manner and often took place in-game or on social media and messaging platforms. For example, preadolescents detailed how they annoyed other players on Fortnite by preventing them from being revived in-game or how they spammed others on social media and messaging platforms.

Learning

Lastly, preadolescents mentioned to perform activities that we referred to as learning or acquiring knowledge or skills. These activities included learning languages and other skills such as drawing and diving.

What Opportunities and Challenges Do Preadolescents Perceive in Their Online World?

Online Opportunities

We constructed five themes to describe the opportunities experienced by preadolescents in their online world and discuss them in the order of their prominence across preadolescents in our study, starting with those that were most discussed by preadolescents: personal growth, hedonism, social contact, mood management, and convenience. Within each theme, subthemes are also addressed in the order of their prominence. Appendix C presents the themes and subthemes with illustrative quotes.

Personal Growth

This theme consisted of five subthemes, each illustrating specific opportunities the online world provided to stimulate preadolescents’ personal development. Primarily, preadolescents seemed to gain knowledge and skills from their online world, as it provided opportunities for them to learn or discover something. For example, they shared that playing games helped them learn English or how to play an instrument. Additionally, they highlighted opportunities to discover information such as the results of football competitions or the locations of their friends and parcels.

We also gathered that the online world offered preadolescents a sense of autonomy, characterized by the ability to make choices. Preadolescents mentioned encountering numerous possibilities while engaging with the online world. For example, they noted having a wide range of game choices or the ability to play and do almost everything on gaming platforms. They also highlighted the abundance of possibilities on social media and messaging platforms, where they could watch unlimited videos, and on video-on-demand platforms, where they could choose from plenty of series and films to watch non-stop at any given moment.

Next, through their engagement with the online world, preadolescents expressed that they gained ideas for creative processes, which we referred to as inspiration. For example, they mentioned using informational, educational, and (e)book platforms and social media and messaging platforms to gain fashion, crafting, or drawing inspiration.

Furthermore, from the discussions we also found that preadolescents gained a feeling of success and popularity from their online world, which we labelled as competency and status. Preadolescents expressed that they enjoyed the feeling of completing gaming levels and winning (competitive) games. They also mentioned making and posting videos on social media and messaging platforms to gain popularity.

Finally, the online world provided opportunities for preadolescents to receive material gains. More specifically, preadolescents shared that they played games to receive in-game items or to earn (in-game) money.

Hedonism

This theme consisted of two subthemes, each describing specific opportunities the online world provided for preadolescents to experience pleasure. Primarily, preadolescents seemed to seek entertainment from their online world, or in other words, sought-out fun, excitement, or immersion. For example, they shared that it was fun to watch videos, films, or series, play games, or listen to music. They also reported experiencing excitement when watching scary films and immersion while playing games as they felt like they were part of the game.

In addition, preadolescents expressed that they enjoyed irritating, laughing at, and bullying others, which we referred to as malicious schadenfreude. For example, they expressed that they gained pleasure from “driving others crazy by constantly texting and calling” (Child 53, male, year 7) or from laughing at others on social media and messaging platforms.

Social Contact

This theme consisted of two subthemes, each describing specific opportunities the online world provided to strengthen preadolescents’ connections with their social world. During the discussions, preadolescents mentioned that gaming and social media and messaging platforms provided them with opportunities to communicate with others quickly and easily. This included telling their parents that they arrived home safely, chatting with a friend who lives abroad, or reaching out in emergencies, such as when they were lost.

In addition, we derived that preadolescents’ online world provided them with opportunities for social connection, which involved bonding with and expanding one’s social world. More specifically, preadolescents engaged with gaming and video-on-demand platforms, which enabled them to do something together with their friends and family such as playing games and watching films. Furthermore, they reported that through gaming and social media and messaging platforms they could meet new people and make friends. Moreover, social media and messaging platforms also provided opportunities for social connection, as preadolescents expressed that they experienced support from their followers.

Mood Management

This theme consisted of three subthemes, each describing specific opportunities the online world provided to shape preadolescents’ mood and mental state. We found that the online world provided preadolescents with opportunities to pass time. For example, they mentioned “wasting time on Netflix” (Group 4, year 6), calling or messaging friends, watching videos, or “scrolling for hours” (Group 19, year 8) on social media and messaging platforms when bored. Similarly, they noted playing games when they were bored, had nothing better to do, or wanted to make time go faster.

In addition, preadolescents found relaxation through their engagement with their online world. More specifically, they expressed that they could experience peace and calmness while listening to music or drawing. They also mentioned playing games or watching films when they were tired, wanted to recover from a previous activity, or wanted to “chill” (Child 47, female, year 7).

Finally, from the discussions, we gathered that the online world provided preadolescents with opportunities for regulation. When preadolescents wanted to regulate their cognitive and emotional states, they engaged with their online world. For example, when preadolescents wanted to distract themselves from people or thoughts, they danced to music, played games, or scrolled and watched videos on social media and messaging platforms “to forget everything” (Child 114, male, year 8) and “to not think” (Child 113, male, year 8). Moreover, when preadolescents felt sad or angry, they expressed the desire to watch happy videos, tell somebody what happened, or play on Roblox to make themselves feel better. Finally, they mentioned listening to music for better concentration.

Convenience

This theme consisted of two subthemes, each describing specific opportunities the online world provided to make preadolescents’ daily and online activities more practical and convenient. Preadolescents appeared to experience utilitarian satisfaction as they highlighted the usefulness of their online world, such as not needing to physically go to the stores by using online shopping platforms or being able to get notifications about new online content by subscribing to people on social media and messaging platforms.

Preadolescents also expressed their appreciation for free access to content on music, social media and messaging, and video-on-demand platforms. More specifically, preadolescents mentioned their appreciation for not having to pay for concerts, watching free clips of movies, and watching free series.

Online Challenges

We constructed nine themes to describe preadolescents’ online challenges and discuss them in the order of their prominence across preadolescents in our study, starting with those that were most discussed by preadolescents: online security and privacy, social interactions, disturbances, addiction, content, expenditure, restriction, failures, and physical health. Within each theme, subthemes are also addressed in the order of their prominence. These (sub)themes encompassed situations that preadolescents disliked or perceived as annoying, irritating, dangerous, or difficult. These challenges were either personally encountered by preadolescents or they were made aware of them through their social environment (e.g., caregivers, news outlets). Appendix D presents the themes and subthemes with illustrative quotes.

Online Security and Privacy

This theme consisted of six subthemes, each illustrating specific challenges the online world presented for preadolescents’ online security and privacy. Primarily, preadolescents expressed that they had personal experiences with being hacked or were aware of hackers through their social environment (e.g., caregivers). Preadolescents considered hacking as dangerous, scary, enraging, shocking, and upsetting. They further explained that hackers were an online challenge as hackers “can steal a lot of data from you” (Child 49, female, year 7), “can hack your account and then withdraw money from your bank” (Child 12, female, year 6), or that “you may lose your account” (Child 33, female, year 6). In addition, they highlighted that hackers affected their online experience as they “ruin the whole game” (Child 55, male, year 7).

Furthermore, we derived from the discussions that privacy violation was an online challenge. More specifically, preadolescents expressed annoyance and fear over their personal experiences or awareness of people or online platforms collecting or having access to their personal information, sometimes without their permission or knowledge. For example, preadolescents highlighted that people or online platforms could “look through your camera … eavesdrop on you” (Child 17, female, year 6), or collect or know your personal details, location, and online activities, such as what video you have liked or watched. Furthermore, preadolescents reported feeling sad, annoyed, and angry about people or online platforms sharing their personal information without permission. This included parents posting about them online and others sharing photos, screenshots, or personal details.

Next, preadolescents mentioned that scams and dangerous links were an online challenge, which we referred to as scams and phishing. They shared that scams and phishing were irritating, frustrating, and bothersome, based on their own experiences or those of their social environment (e.g., grandma). They illustrated scams and phishing to be an online challenge as you lose money or valuable in-game items or your expectations are not met, such as not receiving an order or receiving defective items from online shopping platforms.

Preadolescents also voiced that viruses were a challenge of their online world and considered them as irritating and weird. They elaborated that viruses were an online challenge as it could collect and sell your information and effect your computer, such as covering your screen with advertisements or weird things.

Moreover, preadolescents expressed that they were aware of blackmailing, which involved being forced to do things, such as sending nude photos. When discussing blackmailing, preadolescents predominantly mentioned to be aware of this online challenge through information provided by their social environment, such as their teachers, news and information platforms, or social media and messaging platforms (e.g., TikTok and YouTube).

Finally, preadolescents discussed the permanence of their online posts. They pointed out that anything posted online cannot be removed which may lead to feelings of regret and enabled opportunities for others to collect and repost this content.

Social Interactions

This theme consisted of five subthemes, each describing specific challenging social interactions in preadolescents’ online world. Preadolescents described various deceptive or exploitive online interactions which we referred to as predatory online interactions. For example, they discussed situations such as older people pretending to be young (i.e., catfishing), people following you everywhere and showing up at your house (i.e., stalking), strangers asking for personal information such as your photos (i.e., solicitation), encountering child molesters online (i.e., paedophiles and grooming), and falling in love online (i.e., online dating). These situations were often considered as scary, dangerous, or weird by preadolescents. Additionally, some preadolescents reported not having personal experiences with these situations but were aware of them through their social environment, including TikTok, caregivers, and news outlets.

In addition, preadolescents described experiencing and being aware of various online situations related to cyberbullying, hostile communication, and toxic behaviour, which we collectively referred to as digital hostility. They often considered these situations to be mean, weird, irritating, annoying or infuriating. More specifically, they shared that cyberbullying was an online challenge as it could cause victims to suffer, become scared, or feel insecure. Similarly, hostile communication, such as receiving hate and getting cursed at, could also lead to pain and insecurity among victims. Furthermore, preadolescents reported experiencing toxic behaviour, particularly in gaming contexts. This included situations such as being insulted by other players and encountering players who do not follow the game rules thereby ruining their gaming experience. Outside of the gaming context, preadolescents mentioned getting “spammed” with excessive communication (e.g., messages, calls, mails, or in-game invites) and prank calls (e.g., random calls by people, sometimes from another country or anonymously).

While preadolescents described various predatory online interactions, they also found general online contact with strangers to be strange, irritating, and dangerous. Examples included playing games with strangers and receiving messages and calls from strangers.

Next, preadolescents described situations related to non-responsiveness of others. They shared that it was annoying when others were non-responsive, such as not picking up their phone, not reacting immediately to messages and questions, and not being online.

Finally, preadolescents illustrated situations related to miscommunication. They shared that it is difficult to interpret another’s emotions online and that one can come across differently than intended, which may lead to misunderstandings.

Disturbances

From the discussions with preadolescents, we gathered that they encountered two types of disturbances which disrupted their online experience: advertisements and technological disturbances. Preadolescents described how advertisements would disrupt their online experience (e.g., watching a video, playing games), with these advertisements often being abundant, long, and unskippable. They considered advertisements as irritating, annoying, and stupid.

Similarly, preadolescents described various types of technological disturbances as irritating, annoying, infuriating, or even dangerous. More specifically, they reported encountering software disturbances, which included malfunctions (e.g., glitches and errors), situations where the software did not work as intended (e.g., not showing search results they wanted), or when functions were missing or difficult to use (e.g., not being able to set an age restriction). Preadolescents also mentioned connection disturbances, such as when the Wi-Fi, internet, or connection would not work. In addition, they discussed hardware-related disturbances, such as issues with battery life, storage capacity, and controllers. For example, they shared experiences of having no battery, having to charge their device, having no more storage, or having a defective controller.

Addiction

During the discussions, preadolescents had extensive discussions about game, smartphone, social media and messaging, and video-on-demand addiction, supported by knowledge they gained from their social environment (e.g., TV programs). They often described addiction as continuous and uncontrollable consumption. For example, “it’s hard to stop” (Child 91, male, year 8), “when you play it too often (Child 1, male, year 6)”, and “when you can’t live without it (Child 120, female, year 8)”. In addition, some preadolescents discussed addiction in terms of frequency (e.g., times you play a game per day) or duration of use (e.g., hours played), with the exact cut-off differing per preadolescent. Preadolescents also mentioned consequences of addiction on their health, including worse eyesight and memory, later bedtimes, and more sedentary behaviours. They also illustrated consequences for their social relationships, such as difficulty with making and sustaining friendships.

Content

This theme consisted of three subthemes, each describing specific challenges related to online content. Predominately, preadolescents mentioned encountering content that we referred to as discomforting content, including video’s, photos, or advertisements that they found weird, unpleasant, or scary. While preadolescents could not always elaborate on what they meant with weird or unpleasant, they expressed that it was content they did not want to see or found upsetting. Similarly, when discussing scary content, they shared that they did not want to see it, were scared by it, had nightmares about it, or could not get it out of their minds. Furthermore, preadolescents described specific examples of discomforting content, including the murder of people and animals, weapons and threats, sexual content, and hate content, such as videos where the pride flag is destroyed.

Next, during the discussions, preadolescents described situations where they had consumed all content or could not choose what content to consume, which we referred to as content saturation and overload. More specifically, preadolescents shared that it was irritating and annoying when they had watched all the videos, had nothing left to watch, or played a game too often or for too long, as it becomes boring, a waste of time, and they must think of something else to do. In addition, preadolescents expressed difficulty in dealing with the abundance of choices on video-on-demand and gaming platforms.

Finally, we derived that preadolescents encountered deceptive content, which we referred to as mis- and disinformation. For example, preadolescents expressed the difficulties of recognizing deep fakes and discussed the consequences of fake news or content which may result in unnecessary fear or being misinformed.

Expenditure

Preadolescents shared that it was irritating, annoying, stupid, and weird to spend money on gaming, video-on-demand, social media and messaging, and music platforms. More specifically, they mentioned that “you have to pay money” (Child 80, male, year 7) and “it can cost you a lot of money” (Child 91, male, year 8) which they found “unnecessary” (Child 19, male, year 6) and a “waste of your money” (Child 20, male, year 6).

Restriction

Preadolescents also encountered challenges related to restrictions from parents and platforms. They described various parental mediation situations as annoying, stupid, unfair, and restrictive. For example, they mentioned caregivers regulating their screentime through rules and monitoring their screentime and content, such as checking their screentime, messages, and games. Furthermore, preadolescents shared that it was annoying or irritating when online platforms moderated their online experiences, which we referred to as platform moderation. For example, they illustrated situations where online platforms would delete or ban their account or require parental permission to use an online platform.

Failures

During the discussions, preadolescents illustrated various situations in which they experienced defeat, particularly in gaming contexts, which we referred to as failures. For example, they shared that it was annoying, stupid, and irritating, when you lose or can die in-game, when you cannot complete a level, or when games are too difficult.

Physical Health

Preadolescents mentioned various challenges related to their physical health. For example, they shared that it is “bad for your eyes” (Child 67, male year 7), “if you turn it up too loud, you will go deaf” (Child 91, male, year 8), and “sometimes I get a headache from social media if I am on it for too long” (Child 115, female, year 8).

Discussion

Preadolescents (8–12-year-olds) are spending more and more time online. To help them thrive in today’s digital media society, it is crucial to understand what they actually do online and what opportunities and challenges they experience. Despite this importance, previous research has predominantly focused on platform-specific research (e.g., YouTube, Bebo; Dunne et al., 2010; Scott et al., 2023) and adult-focused conceptualizations of risk (Smahel & Wright, 2014), hindering us from fully understanding preadolescents’ online experiences from their own perspective. In addition, the qualitative research that does take preadolescents’ own perspectives into account is a decade old (Jansz et al., 2015; Smahel & Wright, 2014) and therefore may not reflect the online experiences of preadolescents growing up in today’s digital media society. This study aimed to address these research gaps by examining the online activities of the current generation of preadolescents and their lived experiences with online opportunities and challenges using qualitative methods and a broader perspective. Based on the findings, seven key insights can be highlighted.

First, the current generation of preadolescents is active online through various digital media and online platforms, including social media platforms. This raises questions about the effectiveness of age restrictions, as preadolescents are technically too young to have profiles given the age guidelines of those platforms. Like older preadolescents (Bucknell Bossen & Kottasz, 2020; Dias & Duarte, 2022; Jansz et al., 2015), preadolescents engage in a broad range of online activities. Consistent with Shao’s (2009) analytical framework, these activities have different levels of effort investment and can be roughly categorized as consuming, participating, and producing. Compared to older research with preadolescents (Jansz et al., 2015), we see a wider range of online activities, reflecting the vast array of uses the online world currently has to offer. Interestingly, preadolescents also report engaging in activities related to managing their online world. Managing does not fit neatly in the analytical framework by Shao (2009) along the dimension of effort investment, but instead can be seen as a transcending online activity, as it enables the performance of activities on the dimension. For example, playing online games requires management of accounts and in-game friendships, while exchanging on social media and messaging platforms requires management of group chats and content such as videos, photos, and stickers. The emergence of managing as a distinct online activity, thereby expanding the analytical framework by Shao (2009), may be due to the continuously evolving digital landscape, which offers an increasingly broad array of online platforms and activities, necessitating management.

Second, preadolescents experience various opportunities in their online world. While engaging online, several needs are gratified, varying from personal growth to hedonism, mood management, social contact, and convenience. These opportunities largely align with the opportunities found in prior research among children (Bucknell Bossen & Kottasz, 2020; Dias & Duarte, 2022; Dunne et al., 2010; Jansz et al., 2015; Scott et al., 2023).

Third, in addition to opportunities, preadolescents also experience a variety of challenges related to their online activities. In line with the 4C’s classification (Livingstone & Stoilova, 2021), preadolescents experience risks related to content (e.g., discomforting content), contact (e.g., predatory online interactions), conduct (e.g., digital hostility), and contract (e.g., hacking), as well as cross-cutting risks (e.g., addiction). This shows that preadolescents are aware of the existence of the online risks often cited in theory and research that many adults also worry about. Interestingly, our findings also illustrate a broad range of online challenges beyond these commonly identified risks (e.g., Livingstone & Stoilova, 2021). By using age-appropriate synonyms of “risks” during the activities and discussions, preadolescents were enabled to share their dislikes and annoyances of their online world. This enabled us to capture preadolescents’ lived experiences in which they were prevented from having a satisfying online experience, or in other words, when their needs were not satisfied. This broader interpretation of risks echoes findings from prior qualitative research, where children reported similar situations (e.g., technical problems and advertisements; Smahel & Wright, 2014). For future research, it would be valuable to explore whether these lived experiences, where preadolescents’ needs are not satisfied, are a distinct category of challenges compared to the commonly identified online risks.

Fourth, the identification of challenges outweighs the opportunities in terms of numbers. This predominance of challenges over opportunities may be explained by two reasons. First, preadolescents may have found it easier to report a wider variety of challenges than opportunities due to the prominence of online challenges in their daily lives. Conversations about their online world (e.g., with parents, on news platforms) may focus more on challenges than opportunities, as reflected in preadolescents’ awareness of online challenges they have not personally experienced. Second, the predominance of challenges may also be explained by the structure of the sessions, which emphasized the challenges over opportunities for the progress of the larger research project in which this study is embedded. However, while challenges received more focus, it is unlikely that this emphasis created new themes. Rather, it led to greater depth and elaboration within existing themes.

Fifth, while distinct opportunities and challenges were found, preadolescents mentioned some to be both. For example, preadolescents found malicious schadenfreude to be an opportunity, yet they considered digital hostility to be a challenge. Similarly, they valued opportunities that allowed them to discover information, such as the locations of their friends, but simultaneously mentioned privacy violation to be a challenge. Likewise, while the online world offered them entertainment, preadolescents mentioned that this could lead to continuous consumption. These examples highlight a tension between preadolescents’ online opportunities and challenges, where it can be perceived as either an opportunity or challenge. To gain deeper insights into preadolescents’ online world, future research should account for this complex duality, especially in the context of risk-prevention.

Sixth, the online activities, opportunities, and challenges greatly align with those of older preadolescents (e.g., Jansz et al., 2015; Smahel & Wright, 2014) and reflect the developmental needs and tasks characteristic of adolescence, which begin to emerge among preadolescents as they transition into the adolescent phase. During this transition, they experience an increased sensitivity to peers, rewards, and sensation seeking (Dahl et al., 2018; Eccles, 1999; Icenogle & Cauffman, 2021; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021; Valkenburg & Piotrowski, 2017) and the need for social exploration, self-expression and autonomy (Dahl et al., 2018; Eccles, 1999; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021). These developmental patterns are reflected in their online experiences. For example, teasing activities and opportunities for malicious schadenfreude reflect a need for sensation seeking experiences. Similarly, their need for autonomy is evident in how it is viewed as an opportunity, while constraints on their autonomy, such as parental and platform restrictions, are seen as a challenge. Finally, their heightened sensitivity to peers and need for social exploration are reflected in opportunities for competency and status and social contact. While we uncovered the variation and breadth of preadolescents’ online activities, opportunities, and challenges, future research could examine which specific online activities are related to distinct opportunities and challenges to further understand the interaction between preadolescents’ online experiences and their developmental needs.

Lastly, preadolescents’ social environments were continuously mentioned throughout the discussions. More specifically, preadolescents mentioned performing online activities together with others, highlighting the social aspect of these activities. Furthermore, preadolescents are aware of online challenges they have not personally experienced, reflecting the influence of their social environment on the perceptions of their online world. Moreover, our findings show how preadolescents’ online opportunities and challenges are closely tied to their environment. Namely, preadolescents’ online world provides them with opportunities for social contact and various challenges involve interactions with their social environment (e.g., digital hostility). While beyond the scope of our study, our findings suggest the significance of preadolescents’ social environment in shaping their online experiences. Future research could investigate this aspect in greater depth by exploring how preadolescents’ social environments shape their online experiences.

Limitations and Implications

This study has four potential limitations that must be considered. First, in terms of reflexivity it is important to note that the research team consisted of adult and primarily female researchers which may have influenced the data collection (e.g., social desirability bias) or analysis (e.g., adult interpretations of the data). To address this, we maintained an extensive research journal, created an enabling environment for preadolescents to express themselves, and made efforts to stay true to the preadolescents’ own words in our analysis and reporting.

Second, our adult facilitators observed that some preadolescents had difficulties articulating their feelings or were less comfortable or forthcoming when discussing certain topics (e.g., discomforting content). While their cognitive abilities are still in development, a literature review shows that focus groups with children can be successful when the methodology considers their developmental abilities and needs (Adler et al., 2019). In our study, we used interactive activities (e.g., mind maps) to support their participation and trained adult facilitators to enable a safe space that encouraged open, yet critical, dialogue (for an elaborate discussion, see de Jong et al., 2024). As evidenced in our extensive findings, these efforts enabled us to gather rich data in which preadolescents shared and reflected on their online experiences. Relatedly, it is important to acknowledge the interactive nature of our data collection. Some preadolescents were more vocal in the discussions or (dis)agreed with each other, which enabled in-depth discussions. Adult facilitators embraced these in-depth discussions while ensuring that each child’s perspective was represented. Future research could explore the use of peer facilitators to encourage even more open dialogue (Devotta et al., 2016) and could consider group social dynamics as part of the analysis to explore how children make meaning together about their online experiences (Hollander, 2004).

Third, the audio-recordings were of moderate quality due to the noisy environment and overlapping voices, which at times made parts inaudible and distinguishing individual preadolescents challenging. Despite this, the use of both audio-recordings and creations allowed us to gather rich data, as evidenced by our extensive findings, and the large number of participants ensured data saturation.

Finally, as with all qualitative research, the results are context-specific and should be interpreted accordingly. The findings of the current study are situated in a Western country with children from average to high SES neighbourhoods. Prior research suggests that children from higher-SES families tend to show higher levels of digital literacy (Peng & Yu, 2022), which may have shaped how children in this study experience their online world. Importantly, prior studies have also shown that subgroups may have differential online experiences, highlighting the need to further consider diverse subgroups. For example, social media may act as a safe space for LGBTQ youth to connect with peers, manage their identity, and find social support (Berger et al., 2022). However, these youth are also at a higher risk of experiencing cyberbullying compared to their non-LGBTQ peers (Abreu & Kenny, 2018; Berger et al., 2022). Future studies could explore the perceptions of various subgroups to gain deeper insights into the diverse online experiences of preadolescents.

Despite these limitations, this study has several implications for future research, intervention development, and policy, especially given the increased consideration for policies around digital technology, such as banning social media use for youth under 16 in Australia and banning smartphones in classrooms for primary and secondary school students around the world. First, the findings show that preadolescents are active online and experience various challenges, including serious risks. This implies the need to include this age group in policy and prevention initiatives to ensure timely interventions. At the same time, our findings show that preadolescents also experience various online opportunities, highlighting the importance of fostering digital resilience. Digital resilience enables preadolescents to adaptively navigate their online opportunities and risks, allowing them to thrive in the current digital media society. To achieve this, it is crucial to consider their lived experiences. These experiences can guide policy and intervention initiatives to address the actual online needs and concerns of preadolescents, potentially making them more relevant and effective in enhancing preadolescents’ digital resilience. Second, our findings illustrate that the contemporary digital media landscape has led to an expansion of preadolescents’ online activities, the opportunities those activities offer them, and the challenges it poses. This underscores the need to continuously update research on preadolescents’ online experiences to ensure that the research agenda keeps pace with these rapid changes, enabling it to accurately guide future research, policies, and intervention development. Finally, the findings of this study emphasize the significant role the social environment plays in shaping preadolescents’ online experiences. Therefore, future research and policy must account for this influence in the development of research agenda and effective interventions aimed to boost digital resilience.

Overall, our study deepens the understanding of preadolescents’ evolving needs and concerns amid the rapidly changing digital landscape by examining their online activities, opportunities, and challenges using qualitative methods and an inductive approach. The diverse and nuanced insights reveal the need for ongoing research which involves preadolescents themselves. By doing so, we can better address preadolescents’ online needs and concerns, which in turn can inform the development of potentially more relevant and effective initiatives to enhance their digital resilience.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material - Preadolescents and Their Online World: Activities, Opportunities, and Challenges

Supplemental Material for Preadolescents and Their Online World: Activities, Opportunities, and Challenges by H. Ying Chuck, Chiara de Jong, Serena Daalmans, and Esther Rozendaal in The Journal of Early Adolescence