Analysis Of Youth Activities In The Digital Age: Time-Geographical Approach

• Main Authors: Alexandra V. Starikova, Elena E. Demidova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lomonosov Moscow State University 2021-04-01
• Series: Geography, Environment, Sustainability
• Subjects: digitalization; smartphonization; time geography; diary method; youth; everyday life; covid-19
• Online Access: https://ges.rgo.ru/jour/article/view/1711

The study analyses daily activities of youth in the virtual and actual environment within the framework of theoretical and applied achievements of time geography. The role of mobile devices in youth life, transformation of traditional activity and changes in the daily organization of actions due to digitalization are discussed. Empirical data for the research were obtained via a diary method (the respondents were 18–22-year-old students). Features of individual daily foreground and background activities, digital devices used, activities relation and localization are evaluated by geovisualization performed within the time-geographical concepts. Regardless of the smartphonization, individuals reserve time spans not associated with virtual activities; their online activities are localized within places of residence, study and traffic routes, while public spaces serve as “live communication” platforms (but a complete rejection of virtual activity does not occur here). An attempt to compare youth daily activity under ordinary conditions and during the period of forced isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic is being made.