Life online, rights offline

By Divya, UNICEF Canada  U-Report Ambassador

For our generation, the digital world is not separate from "real life." It is where we learn, build friendships, express ourselves, explore opportunities and increasingly shape our futures.

That is why the findings of UNICEF's recent Life Online poll, in collaboration with GSMA, immediately resonated with me. More than 211,300 U-Reporters shared their experiences online, offering one of the largest snapshots of how children and young people navigate today's digital world. Rather than portraying the internet as simply a place of risk, the results paint a much more nuanced picture of opportunity, identity and responsibility.

What surprised me most was that 35% of respondents said they feel most confident being their real selves online, compared with 27% who feel most confident in-person and only 2% who feel equally confident in both spaces. This challenges a common assumption that online identities are somehow less authentic than offline ones. For many children and young people, digital spaces are not an escape from reality. Rather, they have become an integrated extension of it.

I see this reflected in my own work with other young people. Some of the most meaningful conversations about mental health, identity, career aspirations and civic engagement begin online. Digital platforms have allowed children and young people to organize around causes, build communities across borders and find spaces where they feel heard. When the online world is dismissed as somehow less "real," we also risk dismissing the experiences and relationships that matter deeply to them. 

During my time as President of the University of Manitoba Students' Union, students often reached out through social media before they ever walked into my office. They shared concerns about mental health, rising living costs, housing insecurity and experiences of discrimination because sending a message felt less intimidating than asking for help face to face. Many of those conversations eventually became meetings, referrals to support services or advocacy that shaped our work. 

Through UNICEF's U-Report Global Youth Steering Committee, I have seen the same pattern on a global scale. Children and young people use digital spaces not only to build friendships, but to exchange ideas, organize around issues they care about and influence decisions that affect their lives. 

At the same time, the poll found that widespread adoption does not necessarily mean widespread understanding. Although two-thirds of respondents reported using AI at least a few times each week, among those who do not use AI, 37% said they simply did not know what it was and 25% reported lacking access. This illustrates that digital inclusion is also about ensuring children and young people have the knowledge and confidence to use it responsibly.

Perhaps the most important finding, however, concerns critical thinking. While 61% of respondents said they would either verify AI-generated information using another source or ask follow-up questions, 28% said they would trust AI-generated information directly. Respondents under the age of 18 were the most likely to say they trust AI-generated information without verification. These figures point to the need to strengthen children and young people’s critical thinking skills and equip them to assess AI-generated information with confidence.

I argue rather, they reveal how quickly technological innovation is outpacing the development of digital literacy. Confidence in technology must be matched by confidence in questioning it.

Another result also stood out to me. Around 3 in 5 respondents said children and young people’s needs are considered only sometimes, rarely or never.  For a generation that spends a significant portion of our life online, this should give policymakers and technology companies pause. 

This is why I believe the next conversation about digital safety must move beyond protection alone. Children and young people should certainly be protected from harm, but they should also be equipped to participate meaningfully in the digital world and invited to help shape it. 

The internet is a space that has become woven into our education, relationships, careers and civic participation. The Life Online poll reinforced that our “online lives” are a part of our "real lives." It is one thing to build a digital world without asking children and young people what we need, on the premise of profitability. It is another to keep doing so when we have already said what that need looks like. Governments, educators, technology companies and communities all have a shared responsibility to invest in digital literacy, strengthen safeguards and ensure that children's rights remain central as technology continues to evolve.