Participatory Diagnosis on Adolescents' Digital Rights

The evolution of digital environments and tools is constant, and the way children and adolescents use them is not well understood: we have reports of cases with serious consequences stemming from the misuse of these digital environments (cyberbullying, addictions, blackmail, etc.) but we do not know what the early stages of these serious cases are like, nor do we know about the less visible vulnerabilities of children and adolescents in digital environments. The combination of these two difficulties (a rapidly evolving sector and a poor understanding of actual usage) makes the legislator's job of protecting the rights of children and adolescents in the digital environment enormously difficult; this is a typical case where regulation always lags behind social evolution. To help alleviate this difficulty, AR+I conducted a participatory diagnosis with various groups of adolescents to assist in improving the draft law that seeks to amend the Qualified Law on the Rights of Children and Adolescents to adapt it to the protection of these rights in digital environments.

The methodology used in this participatory diagnosis is based on putting students in a situation and having them go through their daily routine, stopping at different everyday situations. For each of these moments, they are asked what digital technologies they use (in the broadest sense possible). After a group discussion (to broaden the uses considered), they are asked to identify vulnerabilities associated with these uses and are questioned about the rights they enjoy in relation to these vulnerabilities. From there, collectively (based on prior individual reflection), they are asked to think of measures they already use and potential measures to effectively address the vulnerabilities identified. Finally, they are asked to improve three specific measures provided for in the draft law. This work has been repeated with several groups of adolescents from different backgrounds.

The main objective of this participatory diagnosis is to help the legislator identify uses and vulnerabilities that deserve protection and to improve the proposed protective measures, making them better suited to the actual use they can be put to by the intended beneficiaries.