<i>Children and the Internet: experiments with minimally invasive education in India</i>

TLDR

Urban children worldwide acquire computing skills independently, producing self‑taught hackers capable of breaching advanced security systems. The study asks whether such learning depends solely on technology access. Researchers gave slum children in New Delhi unrestricted Internet access within their community. Within the first month, children used the Internet fluently, showing no significant impact of language or formal schooling on their learning.

Abstract

Urban children all over the world seem to acquire computing skills without adult intervention. Indeed this form of self‐instruction has produced hackers?‘children who can penetrate high tech security systems. Is this kind of learning dependent only on the availability of technology? We provided slum children in New Delhi with Internet access in their settlement. The paper describes the results obtained in the first month of unsupervised and unguided access. It is observed that children seem to understand and use the technology fluently. Language and formal education do not seem to make any significant difference.