ABSTRACT This article revisits qualitative data collected in 2015, a pivotal moment in the early popularisation of smartphones and social media, to show how children's past experiences help us understand today's digital challenges and inform policy responses. Conducted in Portugal, the study engaged 41 children, focusing analytically on the 35 participants aged 10–12 and sharing the same school cycle, from diverse socio‐economic backgrounds through ethnographic and participatory methods. The research foregrounded children's agency in line with principles of ethical symmetry and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Findings reveal that children developed informal self‐protection strategies, such as blocking contacts, concealing practices, and relying on peers, while showing ambivalence towards parental mediation. They valued supportive guidance but resisted surveillance and restrictions, perceiving them as undermining trust and autonomy. Hidden practices and silences emerged as strategies through which children negotiated protection and participation. By highlighting continuities across a decade, the article demonstrates the enduring relevance of children's voices for policy and education, calling for rights‐based, intergenerational approaches to digital citizenship.
Teresa Sofia Castro (Tue,) studied this question.