Life Transitions and Social Technologies: Research and Design for Times of Life Change

When people experience major changes in their lives (e.g., relationship changes, transition from high school to college, realizing an LGBTQ identity, etc.), they often turn to social technologies to help navigate shifting identities and networks and find support and resources. People's experiences using social technologies during times of life transition, and how to better design such technologies, has been a major focus of social computing research. This workshop will gather researchers working in this space to discuss eight themes: life events vs. processes; changing identities; multiple overlapping life events; physical and digital transitions; technology non-use during life transitions; liminality framework; theoretical frames; and methodological considerations. Collaboratively, we will 1) synergize insights from workshop organizers' and participants' research to determine how social technologies can be designed to better support people during life transitions and 2) outline an agenda for the future of social computing work on life transitions.