Wasting Time Online? Youth and Digital Media

All new technologies raise new fears in public discourse. Headlines warn us about the detrimental effects of digital media on youth. We hear stories that they are technology addicts and they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and online bullying; we are also told that their access to technology should be monitored and limited (Jenkins, Ito, & boyd, 2016). This presentation will examine how digital media use has impacted youth’s engagement in civic and political life. Are youth wasting time online or does time online build capacity for democratic practice? Does digital media use affect youth’s likelihood and frequency of engaging in their communities? When do we see negative effects between time online and engagement? To what extent do online forms of engagement support offline forms of engagement? To examine these questions, I summarize the findings from more than 70 survey-based studies about youth, digital media use, and engagement in civic and political life.