In celebration of the completion of his PhD we will be kickstarting 2023 on January 11 with IPA Member Chris Martin… (oh wait, that is Dr Chris Martin!!!)
Chris is a playworker, writer/researcher, and playwork activist. He has just successfully defended his thesis for his PhD examining intra-actions between children and mobile digital technology in outdoor play.
Join Chris as he shares his PhD explorations and findings, taking a detailed look at how children and mobile digital technology mix together in outdoor play. He explores the impact of smartphones on play and how modern, digitally connected childhoods can still contain play and wonder. Calling on examples from fieldwork in an adventure playground in southwest England he examines how children combine play in digital spaces and with digital tools while still climbing trees, making dens, and chasing each other.
Chris makes the case that this new normal is no less important than any other childhood and suggests different ways of framing issues. Some of the findings and suggestions may be surprising, some obvious, while others shine an uncomfortable light on how adult use of mobile technology affects and mediates play.
