ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on developing an understanding about practices which can help children’s health and wellbeing when using digital technologies. Health and wellbeing include physical aspects, such as energy expenditure and motor coordination experiences, and mental aspects, such as mood regulation. A concern commonly raised by parents and professionals working with young children is that children may sit for longer periods each day due to being engaged with digital technologies, which could increase their risk of becoming overweight and missing out on important bone, muscle, and heart stimulating activities. Another commonly raised concern is that children can have difficulties regulating their emotions (e.g., tantrums) when needing to cease engagement with digital technologies to move to a different task. However, there have been very limited attempts to identify practices that enhance health and wellbeing in young children when engaging with technologies. This Investigation identified four practices to promote physical activity (reinforcing, launching, engaging, planning), and three practices to promote smooth transitions (strategising, singing, inspiring) which adults can use purposefully with young children to support physical activity with digital technologies and transitioning from sedentary use of technologies into non-digital activities.
