Digital Inequality and Developmental Trajectories of Low-income, Immigrant, and Minority Children

What is digital inequality, and how can we empower children and families experiencing low income in a technology-driven world?

Library › Papers on Children, Robots, and AI

1. Young Children and ChatGPT: Parents' Use of ChatGPT in Parenting

2. Exploring Parent's Needs for Children-Centered AI to Support Preschoolers' Storytelling and Reading Activities

3. Child–Robot Interaction Across Cultures: How Does Playing a Game With a Social Robot Compare to Playing a Game Alone or With a Friend?

4. Culturally Variable Preferences for Robot Design and Use in South Korea, Turkey, and the United States

5. Child–robot relationship formation: A narrative review of empirical research

6. Shall I Trust You? From Child–Robot Interaction to Trusting Relationships

7. Aladdin’s Genie or Pandora’s Box for early childhood education? Experts chat on the roles, challenges, and developments of ChatGPT

8. Challenging ChatGPT 'Intelligence' with human tools: a neuropsychological investigation on prefrontal functioning of a large language model

9. Dialogue with a Conversational Agent Promotes Children's Story Comprehension via Enhancing Engagement

10. Investigation on Empathy Towards Humans and Robots using fMRI

11. Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy to Index Temporal Changes in Affect in Realistic Human-Robot Interactions

12. "Robovie, you'll have to go into the closet now": Children's social and moral relationships with a humanoid robot

13. The Now and Future of ChatGPT and GPT in Psychiatry

14. Digital Inequality and Developmental Trajectories of Low-income, Immigrant, and Minority Children

15. Family Learning Talk in AI Literacy Learning Activities

16. A Social Robot Connected with ChatGPT to Improve Cognitive Functioning in ASD Subjects

17. Humans Create More Novelty Than ChatGPT When Asked to Retell a Story

18. When He Feels Cold, He Goes to the Seahorse—Blending Generative AI into Multimaterial Storymaking for Family Expressive Arts Therapy

19. Large Language Models Have Divergent Effects on Self-Perceptions of Mind and the Attributes Considered Uniquely Human

20. Ascribing Consciousness to Artificial Intelligence: Human-AI Interaction and its Carry-Over Effects on Human-Human Interaction

21. Assessment of Engagement and Learning During Child-Robot Interaction using EEG Signals

22. Can Machines Think? Interaction and Perspective Taking with Robots Investigated via fMRI

23. Investigating Conversational Dynamics in Human-Robot Interaction with fMRI

24. "Rosita Reads With My Family": Developing A Bilingual Conversational Agent to Support Parent-Child Shared Reading

Today, I read an interesting paper about digital inequality and child development:

Authors: Vikki S. Katz; Carmen Gonzalez; Kevin Clark

I wrote a summary to share with you:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends limited media use in children due to concerns about its negative impact on child development. There is also concern that excessive media use may reduce time spent on activities more beneficial to child development, such as play and exercise.

However, an additional issue related to this recommendation is digital inequality, which refers to disparities in access to technology, such as the internet and digital devices, as well as opportunities to learn digital skills like STEM education and coding.

The authors of this paper argue, based on their survey of over 1,000 parents of school-aged children from low-income households, that there is significant digital inequality by income level.

In low-income households, it is not that parents and children have no access to the internet, but that they lack reliable and sufficient access. Many people in these households share one device, or their access may be limited to mobile devices, which restricts their ability to fully utilize educational resources, connect with teachers, or explore job opportunities.

This limited access also hinders children’s opportunities for connected learning and the development of digital skills.

This is also connected with another important issue I learned from a recent webinar I organized on the topic of technology and child development.

Dr. Patti Ordoñez argued that one significant barrier for children from minority backgrounds in pursuing technology-related careers is that they are less likely to have parents working in the tech field, making it harder for them to envision themselves in that industry. To address this, she is currently conducting innovative work to teach coding to parents and grandparents in these communities.

I agree with the authors that it is critical to support digital access and opportunities for learning digital skills in low-income communities to reduce achievement and opportunity gaps.

I believe it is important to examine the type of media children are exposed to based on income levels. Research shows that more interactive technology is better for children’s learning, but it often requires faster internet and more functional devices—resources that low-income families may lack, leading them to rely more on passive technologies such as YouTube videos.

With the rapid development and use of generative AI, addressing digital inequality is even more urgent to ensure that children are prepared for a workforce that will likely require various AI-related skills.

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