Session
Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Online Safety
Child Online Safety
Organizer 1: Molly Lesher, 🔒
Organizer 2: Hanna Pawelec, 🔒OECD
Speaker 1: Lorena Coutinho, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Jeremy Bailenson, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Julie Inman Grant, Government, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 4: Gita Barry, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 5: Katja Čič , Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Molly Lesher, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Hanna Pawelec, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Molly Lesher, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Panel - 90 Min
1. What does the literature and data show about the relationship between negative behaviors online and mental health?
2. Are some demographic groups disproportionally affected by negative behaviors in online and immersive environments (e.g., cyberbullying and problematic Internet and social media use)?
3. What are some concrete use cases of positive and negative effects of digital and immersive technologies on mental health?
4. What are some innovative policy approaches to fostering mental health in the digital age?
What will participants gain from attending this session? The OECD is in the final stages of finalising research on the impacts of the Internet and immersive technologies on mental health, particularly for youth. This research is being underpinned by a policy questionnaire that was administered in 45 OECD and partner economies on innovative policy approaches to fostering mental health in the digital era. Participants will get a sneak peek at some of the data we have collected (both quantitative and qualitative) in this space. The workshop speakers also include a wide range of high-level experts that would enrich participants' understanding of the complicated relationship between digital and immersive technologies and mental health.
Description:
Digital technologies have dramatically changed the way people live and communicate, bringing many benefits and opportunities as well as new risks, including for mental health. Online environments provide new ways to interact, which help people establish and nurture social connections. At the same time, concerns about victimisation online and cyberbullying, particularly for children and youth, have been identified as a significant risk by public health authorities and the international policy community. Difficulties in everyday functioning because of the Internet or social media use, known as problematic Internet and social media use, are also raising increasing concerns. This event will explore the opportunities and risks of online and immersive environments for mental health, and innovative ways to reap the benefits while reducing the negative effects that they have on people and society.
This event would explicitly address the following IGF 2023 themes: AI and Emerging Technologies and Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Online Safety. As digital environments evolve from primarily “flat” formats to 3D immersive environments that respond to users’ body movements, questions about the opportunities, risks, and impacts of such immersive worlds on people – including their mental health – becomes more pressing. Immersive environments have been shown to play a positive role for mental health by reducing anxiety, treating phobias, and connecting people to decrease social isolation. At the same time, fostering safety online – including for groups that may be disproportionally affected by negative behaviours online (e.g., cyberbullying and problematic Internet and social media use) such a youth, women, and minorities – becomes increasingly important.
The session will inform OECD research on mental health in the digital age which will be published in the 2024 OECD Digital Economy Outlook (Q1 2024).
The session will help policymakers and NGOs design and implement more targeted and evidence-based mental health programs, with a view to targeting as a priority demographic groups that are disproportionally affected by negative behaviors online.
Hybrid Format: We will have an online moderator to feed questions to the speakers from the chat. We will endeavor, technology permitting, to use a service such as Beekast to live stream questions (TBC when the technologies that will be available are announced). There will be time for such questions -- onsite and online -- after each person speaks. This will make the panel not seem heavy.