The Kids Are / Not / Sort of All Right

TL;DR

This study examined how American adolescents' subjective wellbeing changed during early COVID-19 lockdowns, highlighting the importance of meaningful online interactions over mere screen time and exploring design implications for supporting teen wellbeing.

Contribution

It provides new insights into teens' wellbeing dynamics during the pandemic and emphasizes the significance of meaningful technology use over quantity of screen time.

Findings

Wellbeing showed an overall increase with individual variation.

Meaningful online interactions were more beneficial than total screen time.

Face-to-face interactions remained irreplaceable for teens.

Abstract

We investigated changes in and factors affecting American adolescents' subjective wellbeing during the early months (April - August 2020) of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Twenty-one teens (14 - 19 years) participated in interviews at the start and end of the study and completed ecological momentary assessments three times per week between the interviews. There was an aggregate trend toward increased wellbeing, with considerable variation within and across participants. Teens reported greater reliance on networked technologies as their unstructured time increased during lockdown. Using multilevel growth modeling, we found that how much total time teens spent with technology had less bearing on daily fluctuations in wellbeing than the satisfaction and meaning they derived from their technology use. Ultimately, teens felt online communication could not replace face-to-face interactions. We conducted two follow-up participatory design sessions with nine teens to explore these insights in greater depth and reflect on general implications for design to support teens' meaningful technology experiences and wellbeing during disruptive life events.