IEEE 2089 Age Appropriate Digital Services for Children
Abstract
Online digital services have changed the way that people interact. Companies provide apps for download allowing users of any age to experience them through smartphones and tablets among other devices. To date, company policies have acted as pseudo-guidelines for recommended use. But what happens when apps that were never designed for children are acquired and used by them? To mitigate potential risks the IEEE 2089–2021 standard was developed- an age appropriate digital services framework for children. The standard stipulates the need for a risk-based age appropriate register by which developers can do away with potential intolerable harms on children during the design phase, and keep track of unintended hazards, in order to counteract ongoing negative impacts on children, allowing them to thrive and flourish. Supplementing international law, state regulations, and company policies related to acceptable use, IEEE 2089–2021 provides a benchmark for how children’s apps should be designed based on the 5Rights Principles. Technical standards can be considered a type of soft law, supplementing hard law like treaties or acts, and even non-legally binding instruments like declarations and policies. Together this panoply of safeguards can mitigate the potential for flaws in product development, ranging from data privacy breaches, location tracking default features, nudging toward in-gaming purchases and auto scrolling, child labor toward data annotation, and adverse metaverse experiences. But given the rapidity of product development cycles, it is technical standards that can have the most immediate effect on the pacing problem ensuring that child rights impact assessments (CRIA) are implemented in practice.
Biographies
Prof. Dr. Katina Michael (Senior Member, IEEE) is the inaugural program director of the MBA (Technology and Digital Strategy) at The University of Sydney Business School. She is professor of Strategy, Innovation and Technology. She connects technical, policy, and public audiences, raising awareness of sociotechnical challenges and how to address them through human-centered design. She was the IEEE 2089–2021 Working Group Chair for the Age Appropriate Digital Services Framework Based on the 5Rights Principles for Children from 2019 to 2021. She was also involved in the development of the European Reference Document for Children’s Protection and Well-being Online. The CWA published by CEN/CENELEC localized the IEEE 2089 standard within the European context, where it addressed specific needs identified in various EU policies and regulations.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thao Ha is a developmental psychologist and director of the @HEART Lab (Healthy Experiences Across Relationships and Transitions Lab) at Arizona State University. Her NIH- and foundation-funded research investigates how emerging technologies, including social media, AI, and VR, are impacting adolescent romantic relationships and mental health during a developmentally vulnerable period. By examining how teens navigate love, breakups, and relationship dynamics within their broader social worlds (including peers, parents, and educators), Dr. Ha identifies key risk and resilience factors that influence long-term mental health. She conducts culturally grounded, community-engaged research with youth and families, providing critical insights for designing technology, policies, and interventions that foster emotionally healthy relationships in both digital and physical spaces.
Dr. Taren McGray is a behavioral and social health scientist and the post-doctoral researcher in the @HEART lab (Healthy Experiences Across Relationships and Transitions Lab) at Arizona State University. Her research examines the epidemiology and measurement of interpersonal violence in underrepresented global communities, with a particular emphasis on emerging technology-facilitated forms of violence. Grounded in community-engaged, socio-ecological, and intersectional frameworks, Dr. McGray’s research serves to translate the lived experiences of survivor-victims and at-risk individuals into actionable advocacy, policy, and prevention efforts to foster healthy and safe digital spaces, reduce digital and in-person violence, and improve mental health outcomes.
Ms Ruth Lewis: Director of Technology Foresight Consulting, Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical), Graduate Diploma Digital Communications, Master of Strategic Foresight, National Engineering Register. Ruth is Vice President (Standards) and the Chair of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) Standards Committee.
Citation: Katina Michael, Tao Ha, Taren McGray, Ruth Lewis, 8 January 2026, "IEEE 2089-2021: Age Appropriate Digital Services for Children", IEEE SSIT Education Webinar Series with Multimedia Video Premier from Eleni Michael, 2025, "Death: When Technology Backfires", ITM, SHAPE Nomination, https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/541968