Research on forcibly displaced populations and their digital cultures have dominantly focused on utility-driven ends, primarily tied to goals of assimilation, social tracking, economic betterment and other aid agencies specific agendas and outcomes. This approach negates much of their digital life, that which —based on anecdotal evidence from UNHCR, is consumed by leisure and play— popular media entertainment, gaming, romancing, and social networking, much like typical online users worldwide. This restrictive lens may lead to insufficient, and even directly contribute to misleading data on, or narratives about, these communities, which is often instrumentalized by aid agencies in their pursuit for equitable and meaningful connectivity for these targeted populations.

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For communities globally, leisure has proven to be fundamental to social and mental well-being as it allows for unstructured time and thought, an essential gateway into self and community actualization. The focus on leisure also captures the nuances of everyday life, creating better opportunities to understand the spatial and socio-cultural aspects of people’s media practices.