Rethinking students’ civic engagement in the context of new technologies

Abstract

Social media are having a wide impact on teenagers’ civic engagement, while the nature of this impact is not yet clarified. According to the conceptualization proposed in IEA-ICCS study, civic engagement refers to connections with the life of the local community, including civic activities, participation, and beliefs about the possibility to become actively involved. In this context, social media stimulate adolescents’ civic engagement, supporting social networks that differently would not be possible, providing the opportunity to express opinions, allowing partnerships to take action. However, social media have an impact in diminishing the time spent in face-to-face interactions. Additionally, they can contribute in propagating misinformation that may cause polarizing, or absent, forms of engagement. The paper will analyse these aspects in ICCS 2016 data, as the study explores the new forms of youth political participation, investigating how social media influence young people’s engagement in society and how students’ engagement can be supported and encouraged by schools.