Immigrant Children and the Internet in Spain: Uses, Opportunities, and Risks
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Date
2019-02-05Author
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Media and Communication 7(1) : 56–65 (2019)
Abstract
This article describes the use made of the Internet by immigrant children living in Spain and the opportunities and risks
it involves. Specifically, it deals with children from the Maghreb, Ecuador, and Sub-Saharan Africa, three regions which
account for a quarter of Spain’s foreign-born population. A qualitative methodology was used, based on in-depth interviews
with 52 children from these countries and educators from their support centres. Immigrant minors usually access
the Internet via their smartphones rather than via computers. They have a very high rate of smartphone use and access
the Internet over public Wi-Fi networks. However, they make little use of computers and tablets, the devices most closely
associated with education and accessing information. Internet usage is fairly similar among immigrant and Spanish teens,
although the former receive more support and mediation from their schools and institutions than from their parents. The
Internet helps them to communicate with their families in their countries of origin. As one educator puts it, “they have
gone from sending photos in letters to speaking to their families every day on Skype”. Some teens, particularly Maghrebis,
sometimes suffer from hate messages on social networks.