Digital Citizenship and Civic Engagement Among Youth
Summary
Digital citizenship among young people encompasses the knowledge, skills and dispositions required to participate responsibly and effectively in online environments. It extends traditional notions of citizenship by foregrounding how civic activities—such as political discussion, community organising and policy advocacy—are enacted through digital platforms. As youth increasingly harness social media, blogs and collaborative tools to voice their opinions, they shape public discourse, mobilise peers and influence decision-making across local and global contexts. Critical digital literacy enables young citizens to evaluate information quality, navigate algorithmic filters and counter misinformation, thereby sustaining inclusive and deliberative digital publics. While digital engagement offers opportunities for empowerment, it also poses challenges: unequal access, algorithmic bias and exposure to polarising content can exacerbate existing social divides. Recent scholarship highlights how youth employ alternative publics—informal online spaces that operate outside mainstream channels—to articulate emerging civic identities and pursue collective aims. Across diverse geographic and cultural settings, young people’s online participation has been linked to offline mobilisation, from community service to electoral campaigns. Understanding this landscape requires interdisciplinary research that balances normative aspirations for democratic renewal with empirical analyses of digital practices, policy frameworks and technological affordances.
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Digital Citizenship and Civic Engagement Among Youth publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in digital citizenship and civic engagement among youth across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Digital citizenship: The practice of engaging in civic activities through digital media, encompassing rights, responsibilities and participation in online communities.
Civic engagement: Actions by individuals or groups aimed at influencing public policy, improving community well-being and participating in democratic processes.
Digital literacy: The capacity to use, analyse and critically evaluate digital tools and content for informed decision-making and participation.
Discursive citizenship norms: Shared expectations that guide respectful, informed and constructive online political discourse.
Alternative publics: Informal digital spaces where marginalised or specialised groups convene to deliberate and advance civic claims outside mainstream channels.
References
- Digital Literacy Through Digital Citizenship: Online Civic Participation and Public Opinion Evaluation of Youth Minorities in Southeast Asia. Media and Communication (2019).
- What Makes a Good Citizen Online? The Emergence of Discursive Citizenship Norms in Social Media Environments. Social Media + Society (2022).
- Social Media Platforms and Political Participation: A Study of Jordanian Youth Engagement. Social Sciences (2023).
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