A turn to digital for maternal wellbeing: potentials and pitfalls

As the COVID-19 pandemic creates an array of unprecedented pressures on society, and on parents and children, its impacts are likely to be felt intensely in pregnancy and maternity. To mark Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, Dr Ranjana Das, Reader in Media and Communication at the University of Surrey and LSE alumni, outlines the potential impacts from the rapid move to online support to meet the needs of isolated new mums. Discussing her new book, Early Motherhood in Digital Societies: Ideals, Anxieties and Ties of the Perinatal, she argues in favour of a strategy for maternal digital well-being which distinguishes the specific needs of mothers and offers integrated digital and offline service provision.