How Do Changes in the Digital and Language Environment at Home During COVID-19 Lockdown Affect Child Development and Wellbeing?

Media and digital technology play a large role in daily family life and the home environment. The project will assess to what extent COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions have affected children's engagement with digital devices vs. face-to face interactions in order to establish an understanding of current and long-term consequences on the acquisition and maintenance of native language and literacy, and wellbeing. We will also take into account other relevant factors such as child gender, parental education and emotional state, and mediation in digital devices use likely to influence child development and digital media use. Empirical knowledge about long-term psychological consequences of pandemic-related restrictions and early use of digital devices is needed to find a healthy balance between time spent with technology vs. face-to-face verbal interactions and to support child development and their overall wellbeing in current and future challenging and stressful situations.