Children and young people's experiences of play in digital environments

Play increasingly takes place in digital environments, but knowledge about it from a child's perspective is limited.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, free play is a right for children/young people, and play is important for their development, well-being and health. Digitization has contributed to the widespread use of computers, tablets and smart phones, which has significantly changed the way children play. The game now takes place to an increasingly large extent in digital environments. Free play in digital environments, i.e. play for its own sake that is initiated, organized and controlled by the children/young people themselves, has been studied very sparingly. Furthermore, research has rarely taken its starting point from the children's/young people's own perspective. From perspectives other than the child's, play has often been described as problematic when it comes to screen time, although a broader view is now beginning to be discerned. Consequently, there is a lack of literature and research that examines participation in play for play's sake within digital environments.

The aim of the research is therefore to increase knowledge about and understanding of children and young people's experiences of participation in play in digital environments. The nature of play, (form, function and meaning) in digital environments will be explored in four sub-studies to improve the understanding of play behaviors and the aspects that influence these among children and young people.

Knowledge of children/young people's own experiences of participation in play in digital environments will be important in the work to support free play in digital environments to promote development, health and well-being in children/young people.

• The project has ended. Read an interview with Fiona Loudon and the results of the project here.