Pandemic Screen Time: An Examination of Children's Digital Experiences and Parent Perceptions

• In Event: Worldwide Perspectives on Digital Technology in Education

Abstract

COVID 19 lockdowns signaled an increase in children’s screentime as schooling pivoted to online modes. During the pandemic, worries about screentime resurfaced significantly in popular media. We have been interested in children’s use of digital media to maintain social connections and their own interests during the pandemic, in a time when engagements with digital media for schooling were prioritized. We draw from communication with parents and child participants in our study projects, and our autoethnographic experiences, using notions from post human literacies and Green’s three-dimensional model of literacy. We address the varied perspectives of parents and children, looking at children’s desires for their private spaces and activities competing with the more public, controlled components of online school experiences.

Authors

• Suzanna So-Har Wong, University of Alberta

• Linda Laidlaw, University of Alberta

• Joanne O'Mara, Deakin University