Adolescent technology-use and creative activities during COVID-19: A qualitative study

Abstract

This study investigated how COVID-19 impacted creative adolescent engagement with their creative activities, as well as how they utilized technology to cope with the pandemic. Using qualitative methods, this study was guided by phenomenology using both constructivist and transformative paradigms. Participants were English-speaking adolescents from the Midwest in the United States. They were identified as creative by their teachers according to known creative profiles and were invited to attend an all-day creative career workshop over Zoom, where the focus groups occurred for this study. Five focus groups, consisting of 25 participants, were conducted, guided by semi-structured interviews. The transcripts from the focus groups were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis by the first, second, and third authors. Results indicated that COVID-19 affected creative adolescent engagement with creative activities in positive and negative ways, caused changes in emotions and motivation, and increased virtual creative engagement. Creative adolescents coped with COVID-19 using digital technology to connect with others virtually, to engage in virtual creative expression, inspiration, and growth, and to meet their personal needs. Implication of results is discussed.