Being a ‘digital native’ isn’t enough to prepare children for AI, new study suggests

Growing up surrounded by technology may not be enough to prepare children for AI, with researchers highlighting the importance of ‘digital maturity’.

Francesco Carta fotografo/Getty

Published: August 28, 2026 at 10:41 AM

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Growing up surrounded by smartphones, tablets and apps might make today's children seem naturally tech-savvy. But a new study suggests being a so-called “digital native” doesn't necessarily mean a child is equipped to navigate the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence.

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Researchers studying primary school children found that “digital maturity”, which includes skills such as managing impulses and emotions online, recognising digital risks and knowing when to seek help, was independently associated with children's AI literacy.

The findings highlight an important distinction for parents: growing up knowing how to use technology isn't necessarily the same as developing the judgement and self-regulation needed to navigate it responsibly.

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What did the study find?

Researchers from Beijing Normal University and Shenzhen University studied Chinese primary school pupils for the research, published in the Journal of Intelligence in August 2026.

In the first part of the research, 434 children, with an average age of 10.68, completed questionnaires measuring their digital maturity, characteristics associated with being a “digital native” and AI literacy.

After taking gender, school grade and children's reported weekday and weekend device use into account, researchers found that digital maturity remained significantly associated with AI literacy.

And it appeared to contribute something beyond simply being comfortable with technology. Digital maturity explained an additional 7.5% of the variation in children's AI literacy after the researchers accounted for the other factors in their statistical model, including their “digital native” score.

What does ‘digital maturity’ actually mean?

Being able to swipe around an iPad, find a favourite YouTube video or confidently use an app isn't quite what researchers mean by digital maturity.

Instead, the concept looks beyond familiarity with devices and considers how children are developing the skills and behaviours needed to navigate digital life.

The Digital Maturity Inventory used by the researchers assesses 10 areas, including:

The researchers point out that being born into a digital world isn't a guarantee that children will develop these abilities automatically.

Being born into a digitized environment does not necessarily guarantee the ability to critically evaluate, regulate, and use digital technologies responsibly.

Study authors Meng Sun and Jiutong Luo

Children's digital abilities don't all develop in the same way

The researchers also looked for different patterns of digital maturity among a larger combined sample of 1,026 primary school children, with an average age of 10.38.

They identified three distinct groups. The largest, containing 68.6% of the children, was described as having “relatively high” digital maturity overall. Another 21% fell into an “unbalanced low” group, while 10.4% were classified as an “inconsistent medium” group.

That last group is particularly interesting. These children scored highly in areas including digital literacy, digital risk awareness, seeking support and digital citizenship, yet had much lower scores for regulating negative emotions and impulses in digital situations.

It suggests that being capable or knowledgeable in some parts of digital life doesn't necessarily mean a child is equally equipped in others.

So should parents be thinking beyond screen time?

The findings don't mean parents can forget about how long children spend on screens. The study wasn't designed to establish that digital maturity matters more than screen time, and it can't tell us that the amount of time children spend on devices is unimportant.

What it does suggest is that time isn't the only consideration. How children behave online, manage their emotions and impulses, recognise risks, seek help and make decisions could also be important as AI becomes an increasingly familiar part of digital life.

The researchers say more work is needed, but argue that digital education should move beyond technical skills and also promote “autonomy, self-regulation, responsible digital engagement, and adaptive capacities in digital and AI-related contexts”.

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Authors

Ruairidh PritchardDigital Growth Lead

Ruairidh is the Digital Lead on MadeForMums. He works with a team of fantastically talented content creators and subject-matter experts on MadeForMums.

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