Conference Agenda

In a digitised world, understanding children’s well-being is increasingly complex as they play, engage and connect through digital play. Nurturing well-being is integral to humanity's hope for the future and requires attention and new knowledge about the impact of digital play experiences on children’s well-being. Through an international research collaboration, including case studies from, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, South Africa, and Australia we sought empirical evidence to answer the research question; how does digital play foster children’s well-being? This study is part of a larger study funded by the Lego Foundation and underpinned by the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) (2021) child-centred framework. This framework identifies eight aspects of children’s well-being that digital play could potentially positively influence. Deep insights were gained from this study’s eco-culturally informed home visits and observations of participating children and families’ interaction around and with digital games over time.

The study adopted a range of qualitative methods, including in-person interviews and observations and family-led data generation and sharing, within a case study design. It was informed by ethnographic approaches and was semi-longitudinal. In total, 240 research visits were made to 50 families in the 4 countries, over a period of 14 months. Social network analysis methods, exploring why and how relationships were established and maintained in families where a digital game and device were introduced into the home, were conducted to better understand and map children’s play in a social context. Subsequently, deductive coding and thematic analysis of interview and video game playing transcripts, based on the elements of the RITEC framework, revealed some differences between countries in terms of how children interact socially during play sessions. However, in all countries, more social connections made by children during gameplay was associated with greater gains in well-being over time. Relations being understood as multifaceted and considered across the international case studies as social, material and temporal in nature. Social connection was identified as a key part of digital play for children. Digital play could provide a springboard for connecting with others as it was a way for children to both make new friends and spend time with important others. It is evident from the initial international cross-case that digital play can be a highly social activity, and children socialise both within and around the game play. There were a range of examples where digital play provided opportunities to collaborate, socialise, create, relate and connect with others. For some children, it provided opportunities to be part of gaming communities, both online and in person, which contributed to their social relationships, provided a sense of collective identity and a sense of belonging. At the same time, others played to take a break from social activities, giving them time and space to do things on their own.

Our panel discussion is a forum for the international partner investigators to share and provoke debate regarding how they observed and interpreted the influence of digital play on children’s well-being, focusing on social, material, and temporal relations. Some of the implications of significant geopolitical differences between the countries will be considered. Drawing from the various international case study families, converging evidence will be presented that suggests digital play can support children’s wellbeing by allowing them to meet specific psychological needs, including the need to connect with their peers and families. Social engagement through digital play can act as an important source of social connection for children who are constantly engaging with [more-than-human}, others as they negotiate social identity.