Digital Wellbeing in the Times of COVID-19: A Study of Urban Families in India

Introduction

Digital wellbeing is a highly debated topic in the HCI community (balance point between an individual’s resource pool and the challenges faced, OECD’s conceptual framework of wellbeing which considers various challenges like social satisfaction, education, heath, work, safety and sustainability).

It is defined primarily through screen time and parental restrictions in the consumer technology front. Many studies have looked at what is the perception of families about digital wellbeing. The current study looks at how Indian families define it, how the pandemic has changed consumption patterns and how it has changed their perception of digital wellbeing. 

User Study 

• Study conduced between Feb and July 2020 
• Participants were families who have children in the age bracket of 8-19
• First stage - Participants requested to fill survey. Distributed through WhatsApp and community group on various platforms. 
• Second stage - participants chosen based on willingness to participate, children falling in the age bracket, having some form of dependence on technology irrespective of pandemic response. 

User Study 

• Third phase - initially planned on having on-site interviews. The plan later changed to having virtual interviews. 
• The interviews were conducted in multiple formats. Specific questions for the family as a whole (focus group style), specific questions for parents only, specific questions for children only and individual. 
• Participants were requested to follow up on responses based on necessity. 

Survey Questions

Name, Age, family size, employment status, educational background, children's access to smartphone, device restrictions, devices at home, interest in further user study

https://shreyasgupta.typeform.com/to/FpWXog

Interview Protocol

Covering three themes - general usage, impact of usage, behavioural change due to pandemic response 

Data Analysis

Data analysed through open coding method.

1. Transcripts of interviews were generated. 

2. Data was coded while creating granular codes. 

3. grouping of codes done for each family to identify themes surrounding each family. 

4. Finding similar codes across families. 

Findings - device access

Findings - changes due to pandemic response

• Changes in family time routines before the pandemic to digital experiences like streaming. 
• Parents unaware of school child's school activities and routines, and vice versa. 
• Strict rule based restrictions laid out for limiting device usage. Both for parents and children. 

Findings - Space of Use

• Physical Infrastructure of the house leveraged for creating and breaking boundaries - having Home PC in the living room, changing the location of personal computers, manipulating network access
• Devices initially dedicated for leisure are now being used for work. The friction between transitioning between work and leisure is almost non-existent. 

Design Implications - Family Friendly Personalisation

Design Implications - Multi User Platforms

• Different age brackets for device access in India when compared to western countries. 
• Increased shared usage of devices (before and after pandemic response)
• Consumer tech needs to embrace these changes with rich multi user capabilities
• Capabilities should include -
  • quick access to switching users
  • a user agnostic mode for anyone to use
  • a child-friendly mode for handing off personal devices to children.

Limitations

1. Few female participants in the study group - Although the in-depth interviews were exhaustive in nature, this is a relevant concern. 

2. Sample Size is limited for claims made

3. Interviews were conducted on Zoom, which could negatively affect screen time.

4. Study conducted early on during the pandemic. As it is not a longitudinal study, things might have changed.