Digital technologies for healthy lifestyles? A collaborative study to develop critical digital health pedagogies with and for young people.

In recent years, with the inclusion of digital technologies in the health field, we are witnessing a ‘digital health revolution’. This concept of 'digital health' (also known as Health2.0, eHealth or mHealth), includes a vast array of digital technologies oriented not only to prevent and treat ailments, but also towards the promotion of health. This project ‘Digital technologies for healthy lifestyles? A collaborative study creating critical pedagogies about digital health with and for young people’ focuses on the ‘digital revolution' in health promotion, in what is called 'digitized health promotion' (Lupton, 2015) understood to be the messages and initiatives that encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits (physical activity, healthy diet, psychological well-being, ect.) that are realized through digital technologies such as web sites, online forums, social media, o wearable devices (e.g. smartwatches).  

Previous international studies have confirmed that young people often use these digital health technologies and that their impact can be positive (i.e. learning about healthy eating or exercise), as well as problematic (i.e. encouraging excessive vigilance of health or even extreme behaviors). Our key argument is that these technologies serve a fundamental pedagogic role in how young people learn about their bodies, health, physical state, and wellbeing. 

The complex relationship between young people and digital health technologies provides a strong justification for this proposal centering on how education in school could help young people successfully navigate the present digital health environment, particularly since this topic has received little attention from educational researchers. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to co-develop with young people innovative and critical pedagogical ideas about digital health technologies in schools, informed by a deep understanding of the meanings, contexts and social factors that shape Spanish young people’s relation with digital health. The relevance of the debates raised in this project takes more significance amid the COVID-19 global pandemic, which has highlighted the potential and challenges of using digital technologies to learn about and adopt healthy lifestyles in different contexts, such as at home (Clark & Lupton, 2021) or in school (Varea et al., 2020).

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