TecWell · Digital Technology Use and Teen Wellbeing in Context: An Ethnographic Investigation
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-09-01 → 2023-10-31
- EU contribution
- €172,932
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
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Results in brief
Digital Technology Use and Teen Wellbeing in Context: An Ethnographic Investigation
The imminent onset of what the World Economic Forum calls the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" and the rapid introduction of cyberphysical systems into social life is raising global concerns as to whether and how these technologies can be safely integrated into human societies as they are brought to scale. One area where considerable anxiety is currently focused is child development, as both parents and professionals question the potential impact that engagement with digital technologies may have on children’s wellbeing. The study addresses these concerns by ethnographically investigating the interplay between the experiential aspects of both consumption and creation of digital media in young teens, the manners in which digital media is integrated into family life, and children’s digital or AI literacy. Ethnographic investigation focuses on the broader relational contexts within which children’s engagement with digital media takes place, including such spaces as Fabrication Labs and Makerspaces, where children actively engage in the production of digital artifacts and content. In investigating children’s and parents’ attitudes towards, and engagement with digital technologies, I attend in particular to experiential aspects of play and creativity, capture or addiction, and those of boredom and mind wandering. Through this qualitative and holistic approach, the study seeks to identify some of the contributing factors to children’s fruitful integration of digital technologies into their lives as they enter the age of the intelligent machine, developing as it does educational initiatives aimed at facilitating children’s critical assessment and understanding of these technologies and their growing impact on their lives.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The project is a comparative study of adolescent digital literacy and digital media use, using a mixed qualitative approach with an emphasis on ethnography. The rapid increase in children’s engagement with digital technologies raises questions regarding their potential impact on wellbeing. However, the data currently available to us as to this impact are largely inconclusive. This is partially due to the fact that most studies rely on quantitative measures that offer little insight into the actual content consumed, or the contexts within which engagement with media takes place. The study addresses these limitations by introducing the use of ethnographic methods to investigate the broader relational contexts within which teens’ interaction with digital media takes shape. Specifically, it investigates the relationship between two factors found to potentially impact teen wellbeing while using digital media: digital literacy, and the manners in which digital media is integrated into family life. Differences in digital literacy and family integration patterns are examined across both gender and socioeconomic divides, as well as between children who mostly consume digital media, and those who also produce digital media artifacts and contents through active engagements in spaces such as Fabrication Labs or Makerspaces. By taking a qualitative, holistic and longitudinal approach, the study aims to identify mechanisms involved in facilitating a fruitful integration of digital media into children’s lives, and to generate data needed for the development of strategies and guidelines to aid teens, parents and educators promote digital media engagement in manners that would enhance teen wellbeing.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI · TarragonaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union