To thrive in today’s digital media society, preadolescents (8–12-year-olds) should adaptively navigate online opportunities and challenges. Supporting them in this requires a clear understanding of how they experience their online world. Therefore, this study examined preadolescents’ online activities and their perceptions of online opportunities and challenges using qualitative methods. In a participatory project, 129 preadolescents explored their online world with interactive activities. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted on the verbatim transcripts of the audio-recorded sessions and photographs of the work created during sessions. The results provided nuanced and comprehensive insights into preadolescents’ online activities, opportunities, and challenges, illustrating the complex and ever-evolving nature of their online world. This study underscores the need for additional research involving preadolescents to better understand what they need to thrive in today’s digital media society.
Chuck et al. (Fri,) studied this question.