The digital world: How screens compete for childhood, not just attention
The TRT International in Istanbul brings together experts and policymakers to debate regulation, responsibility and balance in the increasingly digital lives of even kids who aren't old enough for school.
A toddler falls asleep to white noise from a speaker, not a mother's lullaby.
A seven-year-old eats breakfast with eyes glued to a tablet, not a parent's hand reaching out across the table to fill the plate.
A ten-year-old learns to draw from tutorial videos, not from a grandparent's gentle prodding.
A teenager shares secrets with an AI chatbot, not with a friend.
Walk through any part of the world and you will see children scrolling, swiping, watching and absorbing content that adults created but often struggle to control.
The adults who built the digital world now face an uncomfortable question: have they lost control of what children find there?
That question brought media experts, child psychologists, educators and policymakers to Istanbul for the TRT International Children's Media Summit that opened at the Haliç Conference Centre on December 6, 2025.
The conference seeks to address how children and families engage with media in an increasingly digital existence where the web seems to be everyone's oyster.
"We built this digital world. We laid its foundations. Therefore, we cannot stand by and watch new generations get lost in it," Turkish First Lady Emine Erdoğan said at the summit's opening.
The First Lady put her signature on the Digital Child Rights Convention and called on other stakeholders to follow suit. "We cannot leave our children alone in the unsafe streets of the digital world," she said, adding that regulations being drafted include new social media rules for children under 15.
Jennifer Kaberi, founder and director of Kenya-based child and adolescent-centred digital and media company Mtoto News, emphasises the importance of giving children a platform to speak while ensuring decision-makers listen.
She warns that parents can be either the weakest or strongest link in digital safety.
"We call ourselves digital immigrants, but we are the ones who created the internet. It's our generation, the millennials," Kaberi said. "We are creating a world which we don't quite understand, and our children are just jumping into it."
Competing for attachment
As Kaberi points out, technology doesn't just compete for attention anymore. It competes for attachment.
Children as young as preschool stare at screens for hours but struggle to focus when someone speaks to them. The silence of digital engagement has replaced conversations children used to have with parents.
Türkiye's deputy foreign minister Burhanettin Duran, who also heads the presidential communications directorate, highlights the growing influence of digital platforms on children's learning and socialisation. "We do not want to keep children away from screens entirely, but a sensitive balance is essential," he said at the conference.
Duran pointed to national action plans on children's digital rights and warned that algorithm-driven content could harm children's psychological and moral development, if left unchecked.
Why responsibility matters
Young content creator Kayla, among the participants at the summit, believes everyone has a role to play in ensuring that digital obsession doesn't alienate children from the real world.
"I felt the need to come to this event so that I could know personally how I can participate in media more to help children all over the world," she said.
TRT Director General Dr Mehmet Zahid Sobacı said the summit reflected Türkiye's commitment to safeguarding children through public broadcasting.
"We believe that protecting children is not only a national duty but a universal responsibility," Sobaci said, adding that TRT aims to build "a cleaner, safer and more humane media future for all children".
The summit raises questions that matter: Are we protecting children online or just hoping for the best? Are media creators putting children first or chasing clicks? How do families navigate a world where every screen competes for a child's attention?
If children are the foundation of tomorrow, the media they consume today will define the world they grow into. Shaping that future begins at gatherings like the Children's Media Summit in Istanbul.