Valerie Michaelson, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Brock University; Robert Porter, Project Manager of the eQuality Project at the University of Ottawa; and Valerie Steeves, Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, recently wrote a piece in The Conversation about research they conducted with a group of teenagers to discuss how isolated they felt during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They write:

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the creation — and evolution — of a new socio-technical environment around the world. Lockdowns across Canada spurred an unprecedented surge in online communication as people moved school, work and social lives online. 

In the midst of the first lockdowns in Canada in 2020, a group of teens in Kingston, Ont., explored and analyzed their own experiences of connection during this unparalleled time of social isolation. With the sudden shift to virtual learning and restrictions on in-person gatherings, they wanted to explore how their reliance on technology and networked devices for communication and socialization effected their sense of connection to themselves and others. 

These teens had previously collaborated in 2017 on a research project focused on how social media use shapes our sense of connectedness. 

As vaccinations roll out across Canada, thoughts are cautiously turning to getting back to normal and what that will look like. As decision-makers begin to shape the world moving forward, it’s a good time to share the Youth Participatory Action Research project that we, and this same dynamic team of teenaged co-researchers, conducted during the spring of 2020.”

Continue reading the full article here.