Neurotechnology is here. It's time we get serious about what that means for children

In the next five to 10 years, neurotechnology — techniques and devices aimed at monitoring and modulating brain and nervous system functions — could become mainstream for some children of the next generation.

Convergence with artificial intelligence (AI), nanotechnology and other technologies is rapidly transforming the field of neurotechnology, influencing everything from health and clinical research to commercially provided applications that claim to improve wellness and cognitive performance.

While there are current and potential benefits, unprecedented and unforeseen risks may arise for children using neurotechnologies, including to their normal development, mental privacy and autonomy. The effects of such technologies — positive and negative alike — will have lifelong impacts. They warrant careful consideration and proactive governance.

Neurotechnologies provide significant benefits for enhancing children's health, such as detection, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of brain and nervous system disorders. As the technology continues to develop, their impact is set to be even greater.

In the future, neurotechnologies could enable tailored treatments for neurological disorders, with brain-computer interfaces assisting children with severe motor disabilities, for example. Collectively, benefits could also extend to parents and caregivers, leading to positive ripple effects for the children in their care.

In wellness management, neurotechnologies could provide early detection for conditions like depression or anxiety, and enable neurofeedback techniques for dealing with stress. In education, they could be coupled with personalized learning algorithms that adapt to each child's unique cognitive patterns.

Increasingly, neurotechnology, such as wearable headsets or headbands, is spilling over from the medical domain into the consumer market. Some of these devices, targeting children and youth, claim to enhance concentration or learning. These products are often classified as electronic rather than medical devices, and not all of them undergo the necessary scrutiny to ensure the safety of children.

Even given the benefits seen in the medical field today, using neurotechnology with children presents risks and uncertainties. These include a limited understanding of impacts on children due to significantly fewer studies conducted with children compared to adults, and a lack of long-term reviews on how neurostimulation impacts children's health over time. Looking ahead, the risk potential is significant.

Neurotechnology, when paired with other data-capture tools like wearables, raise concerns about potential interference with the physical and mental development of children. Neural surveillance technologies — employed by a range of actors from states and police forces, to marketing and insurance companies and even potentially cybercriminals — could infer insights into children's mental states, predict and influence their health and behaviors and be mis-used to exploit or manipulate their cognitive and sensory experiences.

In this digital landscape, including within immersive environments, neurotechnologies could create new methods for understanding and influencing what drives the next generation to click, buy, love and hate. Several child rights are at risk of violation, including the right to privacy; freedom of thought, conscience, religion and access to diverse sources of information.

With childhood being crucial for brain development and identity formation, the stakes for interference are particularly high. Children's understanding of neurotechnologies and their ability to give meaningful, informed consent will vary based on their age, developmental stages and evolving capacities, leading to differences in the level of protection they receive. Even well-meaning parents might impose these technologies on their children, hoping to give them an edge in school or life — in doing so, they may inadvertently expose children to risks or undermine their rights.

For the benefits of neurotechnology to be realized for children, and the risks mitigated, many underlying factors need to be in place. These include equal access to proven neurotechnology; robust governance mechanisms, including data and privacy frameworks; the rule of law and upholding of human and child rights; and, most importantly, informed consent given by the children themselves and their families or guardians. For children to be able to give informed consent, we need to learn much more about the potential benefits and risks of neurotechnology.

The future of neurotechnology is both promising and challenging. Urgent action is needed to get ahead of this progressing field to ensure these technologies are developed and used safely for children. Initial steps to protect children include to: develop child-centred neuroethics with input from diverse stakeholders; policy and regulatory analysis to identify potential gaps in upholding child rights in the context of neurotechnology; include children responsibly in both technology design and policy development; and work to better anticipate future developments in this domain as a way to inform anticipatory governance responses. Research to understand the positive and negative effects of neurotechnology on children is also critical.

For more information, read the UNICEF working paper on neurotechnology and children. This report, which is part of a partnership between UNICEF and the Government of Finland, will be followed in 2025 by a set of recommendations to guide neurotechnology policymaking and development for children.