Do Adolescents Use the Internet for Participation? Challenges for Digital Citizenship Education 

• In Event: Exploring Digital Citizenship Education: Comparative Perspectives From Five Nations

Abstract

Democracy in Argentina is 40 years old. Between 1976 and 1983, the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina violated human rights and prohibited participation. In new democracies, Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) can teach students how to oppose any reduction of the public sphere.  DCE promotes a reflexive and creative use of the Internet, both for critical analysis and for democratic participation. Students need to learn that change is possible and that they have a role to play. The Internet becomes a space for critical analysis and a site that allows students to move towards their social engagement in public life.  

Teenagers use the Internet to communicate, play, listen to music, watch films, do their homework, and access information. But, do they use it for social participation? The main goal of this research was to understand young people´s online participation. Do adolescents value the Internet for participation? Do they generate online content about community or school problems? Do they create blogs to discuss social issues? Do they participate in online forums about topics that affect them? Do they use social networks for campaigns or debates?  


Participation means any action that transforms the quality of public life for the benefit of the community. Participation requires social commitment, identification with the public sphere and the defense of human rights and democracy.  This research is based on the idea that adolescents’ participation reinforces the students´ democratic culture. International studies conclude that young people who participate, express higher level of information, more interest in social problems, better understanding of democracy and higher appreciation of a democratic culture (Jenkins, et al., 2007; Chaffee, 1998). This study analyzes the way adolescents are informed, their level of interest for social problems and their participation in the digital world.  


This online study occurred in 2022, among 2000 Argentine adolescents 14 to 18 years old. They answered 20 multiple choice questions, on two dimensions of digital citizenship: Information: access, interest and opinion holding and Online participation: understanding, value and use 

98 percent of participants felt informed about the country and the world, 70 percent acquired information from social networks, 60 percent defined participation as being informed, 60 percent said participation is for “the ones who know” and 98 percent valued the Internet for participation. Only 50 percent of participants used the Internet to participate. 45 percent expressed their opinions on social networks and 50 percent suffered cyberbullying when they shared opinions online. 

These results explain how adolescents understand participation in the digital era and generate new questions for DCE: How can DCE teach students that participation is much more than being informed?  How can DCE help students understand that participation is not reserved for “experts”? How can DCE promote the use of the Internet for participation among all students? How can DCE build a plural digital environment so students feel free to share their opinions?

These are essential questions for further investigation because it is difficult to think of a strong democratic culture today without a society that exercises digital citizenship. 

Author

• Roxana Morduchowicz, UNESCO