‘Of Gaming and Other Demons’: Defining Children and Young People’s Meaningful Leisure Activities in the Digital Era

Abstract

AbstractDigital technologies play an increasingly significant role in the everyday lives and culture of children and young people, but research and societal discussions often focus solely on the perceived risks and concerns associated with their use. This narrow focus does not recognise children’s agency in digital spaces. In this chapter, we address this gap by exploring the meaning children and young people attribute to their leisure-time use of digital technology, from their own perspective. Our study draws on interviews and digital diary data collected in Austria, Greece, Norway, Romania, and the United Kingdom. The findings highlight that children not only perceive digital technologies as a source of entertainment but also as a meaningful part of their leisure activities, enabling communication, socialisation, play, and learning. However, there appears to be a generational gap in the meaning attributed to leisure-time activities, as there is a discrepancy between children’s and parents’ perspectives. Consequently, parents impose restrictions on content and screen time, thereby limiting children’s agency to some extent. Nevertheless, children’s negotiations regarding screen time, content choices, and decisions about whom and what to engage with can be seen as their attempts to expand and assert their agency.