Enhancing Digital Citizenship (Education): Lessons Learned and Actionable Recommendations
What we are currently witnessing in Europe is that technology companies are steering the key decisions when it comes to digitalization, while policymakers and citizens catch up. We need to phrase clearly which values we would like to have reflected in the digital world and work towards achieving them. Legislation at EU level such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Artificial Intelligence Act are first steps in that direction, and the next steps that Europe chooses to take will shape the digital world for today’s young people and future generations. The European Youth Forum created a very detailed Position Paper on digitalization with sets of recommendations that should be taken into consideration when talking about young people in Europe and digital citizenship. There are some other important aspects to be thought about that are coming from various youth activities and conclusions over the past couple of years:
• Young people and youth organisations require strategic and ongoing support to participate in the digital transformation in an informed, proactive, and meaningful way.
• Even if the Internet is seemingly accessible to many, this does not automatically make online participation spaces inclusive. The digital divide exists and should be taken into consideration. Many issues remain to be addressed, from providing young people with the support and means to engage online to ensuring that young people have a meaningful role.
• Digital youth participation should not be a decoration for decision-making processes. Decision-making on a local level should be addressed from a systemic perspective to ensure that the voice of young people is equally important and valued online and in person. Digital technologies and platforms can facilitate the consultation and participation of youth in decision-making. For example, online platforms and mobile voting can make young people’s participation in the youth participatory budgeting process more accessible and convenient. Also, video-conferencing tools can facilitate online consultation meetings. Immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) can provide virtual engagement platforms that are more interesting and interactive, with strong user presence and community-building capabilities, which can contribute to overcoming the serious and formal communication mode of text-driven participation.
• Youth workers and youth leaders need further training on using digital tools, especially to make sure that these tools respect the privacy and security of the young people and the democracy of the processes.
• The online dimension of youth participation calls for a new culture of work and living, where young people are expected to be present and active online all the time. Issues like leisure time and personal time must be safeguarded.
• Digital technologies can be leveraged to deliver information to youth and engage with them in a more interactive and interesting way. For example, social media, which allows easy and ubiquitous connection among youth, can be used to reach out to and share information with a large number of young people in an effective and efficient way and make young people’s communication with governments more accessible and convenient. Chatbots based on artificial intelligence (AI) can enable more prompt or real-time communications and personalised interactions, which are particularly critical for young people. Also, digital technologies can motivate participation from young people, especially through digital gamification, as young people have a higher tendency to win competitions and receive immediate rewards.