Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This study investigates the impact of the increasing home and mobile Internet access on the existing educational inequalities. This digital divide was critically exacerbated by the arrival of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of presential classes. Brazilian policymakers should concentrate efforts and resources in addressing this large-scale second-level digital divide, possibly by equipping educators and students with the knowledge and skills towards the educational, productive and responsible use of the Internet, as well as allowing mobile Internet access in school premises.

This article aimed to discuss the implications of social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the intensive use of the internet among children and adolescents and its possible consequences for the practice of self-inflicted violence. We briefly discussed the anxiogenic potential and the reproduction of a “global fear” that are consolidated with the massive and unmediated exposure of the content consumed, which can increase the vulnerabilities to stress and suicidal ideas. We centered our debate on “recreational” practices, called “challenges” with self-harm power, carried out by teenagers on the YouTube website. This practice has been shown to increase with the social isolation measures. Our reflection on these risks builds on the theoretical perspective of digital sociability, and its implications for the internet-mediated interactions of adolescents.

This article reviews the repercussions of social distance in interpersonal relationships, especially between intimate partners and between parents and children. Based on previous situations of social distancing and the sudden increase in the record of cases of violence in the context of a pandemic, international organizations researchers and media  are concerned with the signs of increased domestic violence and abuse.