Section
Skills
Searching, verifying, behaving well and basic digital competence.
Two of the most repeated ideas about digital skills are false: that young people are naturally competent, and that exposure to devices produces competence. Measured skill has fallen while device use has risen. One practice in this section — lateral reading — does have real trial evidence behind it, and the limits of that evidence are stated as carefully as the result. For a practical example of software used to turn activity into operational metrics, see time tracking software.
One skill in this section has real trial evidence behind it. Most of the advice industry does not.
| Article | Findings | Strong / mixed / weak |
|---|---|---|
| Behaving well online The best available evidence finds non-anonymous users were the more aggressive ones, and that a named journalist replying in the comments cut incivility. |
6 | |
| Everyday digital competence Measured digital competence is falling while daily device use rises, and the adult figures most often quoted as current were collected between 2011 and 2015. |
5 | |
| Searching and checking what you find Lateral reading is the one verification habit with randomised trial evidence, and no published trial has tested whether the gains outlast a school term. |
6 |
Behaving well online
Harassment prevalence is well measured, but the two rules everyone repeats — anonymity causes incivility, never feed the trolls — fail against the data.
6 sourced findings · 1314 words · updated 2026-08-09
Everyday digital competence
ICILS 2023 found 84% of students confident they can judge online information and 4% able to say how, while measured competence falls as device use rises.
5 sourced findings · 1306 words · updated 2026-08-09
Searching and checking what you find
What testing shows about how badly students and adults judge online sources, and why lateral reading is the only method with trial evidence behind it.
6 sourced findings · 1304 words · updated 2026-08-09