Many of today’s youth take to digital spaces to develop their civic identities and express political stances in creative ways, claiming agency that may not be afforded to them in traditional civic spaces. The key difference between civic engagement by youth today and older, more traditional forms of action is the availability of digital technology, which provides a low-barrier-to-entry canvas for young people to create content that is potentially vastly scalable. Here's what else we know:

Data from 11 countries show that between 43 and 64 percent of 9 to 17-year-olds look for news online, while 12 to 27 percent of children discuss political problems online. In the context of widespread digital access, digital civic engagement by youth may be more equitable than traditional forms of civic engagement. Young people are less invested in ‘dutiful’ citizenship acts favoring personalized engagement through digital networking, self-expression, protests, and volunteerism. They use humor, memes, satire, and other acts of engaging with or remixing popular culture as important tactics in the repertoire of digital civic engagement.

Civic engagement by adolescents educates and exposes them to civic issues at an early age and contributes to a sense of socio-political empowerment. Which digital platforms young people choose to use for civic engagement depends on the range of functions and features offered by these platforms. Young people who engage in digital participatory politics are much more likely to engage in ‘real’ offline political participation such as voting.

Active enablers of digital civic engagement by youth include equitable access to technology and digital skills, civic education, and the existence of civic space for activism. Key deterrents to civic engagement are a lack of trust in the internet due to the high prevalence of false news and misinformation, declining trust in political processes, harassment and trolling, data breaches, and digital surveillance.

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