The digital health generation: the impact of ‘healthy lifestyle’ technologies on young people's learning, identities and health practices

Digital health technologies are revolutionising healthcare, profoundly changing government policies and the ways that health knowledge is being created, accessed and used around the world. This includes wearable technology and the mobile health industry which provides the means through which people's bodies and health practices are measured and monitored.

We will look at the major gaps in digital health knowledge and provide insights into the experiences of young people aged 13-18 of digital health technologies focused on ‘healthy lifestyles’. We will bring together perspectives from critical digital health, pedagogy and ethics using qualitative methods of data collection to examine the effect of digital health technologies on young people’s health, bodies and identities. We will also identify inequalities and opportunities.

We will map a digital health ecology system including technologies being used by young people and their engagement with health data. We will also identify a network of related health professionals, policy makers, academics and digital designers and host a national workshop and symposium to bring together key expertise and disseminate findings. The study will inform a larger collaborative grant proposal.