Keyboard warriors? Visualising technology and well-being with, for and by indigenous youth through digital stories

The Young Lives Research Laboratory is concerned with the lives of modern youth from education to technology to mental health. Technology is ubiquitous in the day to day lives of young people in Canada but little is known about the ways in which digital media affects their mental health, especially for Indigenous youth. Research seldom engages youth to clarify and or interrogate digital media and well-being. This paper addresses the dearth of empirical work and supports the development of practices which better reflect and address health impacts of digital technology on young lives. In using an empowering participatory process to provide Indigenous youth opportunity and tools to produce short digital story films helped them to reflect their unique experiences with digital media and its role in both personal and community well-being. The study also explores youth-produced filmmaking as an effective medium for communicating technology-related experiences and challenges. We share youth-produced films to exemplify the cultural process and products that arose in this project.

青年生活研究实验室（Young Lives Research Laboratory）聚焦当代青年从教育、技术到心理健康的全维度生活议题。当前，技术在加拿大青年的日常生活中已无处不在，但学界对数字媒体如何影响其心理健康，尤其是原住民青年（Indigenous youth）的心理健康，仍知之甚少；且现有研究极少邀请青年参与，以厘清或审视数字媒体与幸福感之间的关联。本研究针对当前实证研究匮乏的现状，助力开发能够更好地反映并应对数字技术对青年生活健康影响的实践方案。本研究通过赋能型参与式流程，为原住民青年提供创作短篇数字故事影片的机会与工具，帮助他们反思自身与数字媒体相关的独特经历，以及数字媒体在个人与社区幸福感中扮演的角色。同时，本研究探讨了青年自制影片作为传递技术相关经历与困境的有效媒介的可行性。我们将展示青年自制的影片，以阐明本项目中诞生的文化实践与成果。