Digital Youth Politics

The authors examine the debate over youth engagement as it has developed since 1990, especially the role of digital and social media. Despite panics over youth disengagement and the pervasiveness of the youth deficit model, contemporary research largely finds that young people are politically engaged, that new media facilitate youth engagement, and that new media usage tends to reduce inequalities between youth in political engagement. Beyond these general findings, the authors also examine how youth use digital and social media in the development of political knowledge and interest and when participating in campaigns and elections, social movements and protest, political consumption (e.g., boycotts and buycotts), and participatory politics (i.e., traditional and new forms of engagement such as making cultural interventions and circulating information and opinions). For each form of engagement, the authors also assess the role of digital and social media usage in making engagement more inclusive and equitable. The authors close by introducing evidence-based resources that young people have access to online to aid their engagement and thoughts about future research.