How Kids Struggle With Digital Consent

One of the most overlooked digital skills in households today is consent—not just the physical or social kind, but the digital kind. In 2025, children encounter more consent requests online than adults do in the physical world: access permissions, friend requests, notifications, app data sharing, camera use, microphone access, and personalised ads. Yet most kids click “Allow” faster than they blink.

In Privacy Is Possible, I emphasise that digital consent is not about saying yes or no—it’s about understanding what you’re agreeing to and how it affects your personal freedom

For children, this understanding is essential to developing autonomy and self-protection in a hyper-connected world.

Why Kids Struggle With Digital Consent

Children face three unique challenges:

1. Their brains are not designed for long-term consequences.
Research shows that the prefrontal cortex, responsible for risk assessment, isn’t fully developed until the mid-20s.

2. Platforms are designed to overwhelm them.
Bright colours, fast animations, and simple “Tap to Continue” buttons push children toward impulsive decisions.

3. They mistake digital familiarity for safety.
Apps that feel friendly or fun often collect the most data.

To a child, a consent form appears to be a barrier between them and enjoyment. To a corporation, it’s a gateway to long-term behavioural data collection. This is 3 ways how kids struggle with digital consent.

Digital Consent Is a Human Right

In the physical world, we teach children:

• Don’t talk to strangers.

• Ask before touching someone else’s things.

• Respect boundaries.

• Speak up when uncomfortable.

These rules must now extend into the digital world.

Digital consent teaches children:

• When to share information.

• When to say no.

• When to walk away.

• When an app or platform feels “off.”

• When someone online ignores their boundaries.

Consent is not a button—it’s a mindset.

Three Stages of Teaching How Kids Struggle With Digital Consent

1. Early Childhood (5–9)
Use simple explanations:
“Some apps ask questions they don’t need. You can always ask me before clicking.”

Teach them to pause before tapping “Allow.”

2. Pre-Teens (10–13)
Introduce practical analysis:
“Why does this game want your location? Why does this filter need the camera?”

Develop their ability to evaluate requests.

3. Teens (14–18)
Discuss consequences:
“How could this photo, video, or private message be used later?”
“Who gains when you share your data?”

Empower them to protect their digital autonomy.

Practical Tips for Parents

• Create a family rule: “Never click Allow without checking.”

• Review app permissions together once a month.

• Explain why free apps want personal information.

• Role-play online scenarios involving manipulation or pressure.

• Teach children that “No” is a complete sentence—online and offline.

Academic Reference

Livingstone, S., & Öztürk, A. (2022). Children’s rights and digital literacy: Understanding consent in a digital world. European Journal of Communication.

Book Recommendation

📚 “Kid Confidence” by Eileen Kennedy-Moore
A thoughtful guide for raising confident, self-aware kids—perfect for teaching digital boundaries. This book is so impressive for many reasons. For one, the author provides a “big-picture” look at confidence by describing the 3 Cs of confidence: competence, connection, and choice.

Also, she includes numerous examples of typical problems faced by kids with low self-esteem and offers various examples and scripts for how to help. I only wish that this book had existed when I was an elementary school counsellor many years ago. Not only would I have given it to every parent, but I would also have used it myself instead of falling into typical traps that don’t work with kids. But I have a grandchild, so it’s not too late to put these principles into practice! I would also like to mention how authoritative this book is, informed by both research and practice. Just an excellent book all around–and easy to read and digest, too.