ABSTRACT
The UK’s 2020 COVID-19 restrictions meant that social media platforms became central to social life. Cultural activities selected by participants as sources of intrinsic enjoyment are argued to promote well-being. This chapter draws on data from two Facebook groups, Children’s Stories in Times of Corona and Manav Utsav festival set up in March and July 2020 for Leicester’s South Asian communities to share lockdown experiences. These became “breathing spaces” for children to express feelings and working families to share time and destress, supporting the argument that digital leisure activities can add to individual and communal well-being. Rather than being restrictive, this digital leisure turn overcame geographic barriers normally experienced by diasporic communities. It concludes by noting the importance of global digital platforms in enabling participative leisure activities to grow organically. It asks about the potential of these leisure contexts for well-being and how best to support community-based digital social media opportunities during and after the pandemic.
