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June 20, 2024

Research Snapshot: Children’s Digital Play as Collective Family Resilience in the Face of the Pandemic

Highlights of a study of how digital play helped foster children’s agency, creativity, and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, use of digital tools and social media increased as both adults and children tried to compensate for the lack of in-person social contact. This increased usage fostered concerns of unhealthy overdependence. However, some studies discovered that people who were able to embrace “lockdown literacies” fared better.

This study examines the role of lockdown literacies in the ways in which children applied agency, embraced creativity, and built resilience during the pandemic with the use of digital play.

This research builds on our growing understanding of the Family Wellbeing component of the Vanier Institute’s Family Diversities and Wellbeing Framework.

Burke, A., Kumpulainen, K., & Smith, C. (2023, February 28). Children’s digital play as collective family resilience in the face of the pandemic. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 23(1), 8–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687984221124179