Experiences of Youth Digital Activists Online (original) (raw)
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Youth Digital Activism (UN World Youth Report)
United Nations World Youth Report, 2016
The terms “civic engagement” and “activism” traditionally evoke images of voting and volunteering for campaigns or marching in the streets, banners hoisted high. While these are still fixtures of political participation, a broader set of practices enabled by digital technologies is being created and applied by young people. Cathy J. Cohen, Joseph Kahne and others call this broader set of practices “participatory politics”, defined as “interactive, peer-based acts through which individuals and groups seek to exert both voice and influence on issues of public concern”. They emphasize that “these acts are not guided by deference to elites or formal institutions”. This is part of a larger trend of youth avowing low confidence in national decision-making bodies and disaffection with elected officials and their ability to address issues. The biannual Harvard Institute of Politics poll indicated consistently declining levels of trust in government institutions among 18- to 29-year-old Americans between 2010 and 2015. According to a 2013 LSE Enterprise study, when European 16- to 26-year olds reflect on voting and institutional politics, they find “the political ‘offer’ does not match their concerns, ideas, and ideal of democratic politics”. At the same time, there are high levels of youth participation in issue-oriented activism, boycotting and buycotting, and protest activities. W. Lance Bennett refers to this new generation of young people as “actualizing citizens”, “who favour loosely networked activism to address issues that reflect personal values”, in contrast with “dutiful citizens”, who maintain a more collective and government-centred set of practices. Similarly, Cohen and Kahne found that interest-driven participation was a strong predictor of engagement in participatory politics among American youth. If one thing defines this era of youth digital activism, it is the ability to make and widely share media. It is possible for “widely distributed, loosely connected individuals” to work together to solve a problem or create something new—a practice called crowdsourcing or peer production—because the costs of building loose networks of contributors and disseminating information digitally are nearly zero. When people make their own media they can assert power by framing issues in ways that compel others to change their minds or to adapt to new realities and perspectives. This form of “media activism” is not a new theory of change in itself; however, its practice is being transformed by the use of digital technologies for coordination and amplification. Agenda-setting power is shifting to a broader set of political actors with the necessary tools, savvy and timing. Mobile computing, in particular, is allowing a new generation of citizens to access the Internet and enjoy lowered coordination costs. In Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, 9 in 10 Millennials have a smartphone and spend 50-100 per cent more time on their mobile device than on a desktop computer. Affordable wireless Internet access and mobile phone ownership around the world constitute the most potent force for expanding the pool and potential of young digital activists. However, the young people best poised to transform the practice of democracy around the world are those who not only create media but also build the tools and platforms through which they are made, shared and organized. Lilly Irani calls this new movement of civic hacking and cultural remaking “entrepreneurial citizenship”. This represents a small but powerful cohort that is taking its cues for solving the world’s problems from Silicon Valley and identifying primarily as social entrepreneurs and designers and secondarily as political or as activists. These new forms of digital activism are not without problems and controversy. Many youth are still excluded from civic and political participation. That is why it is important to comprehend the wide range of contemporary tactics, tools, and trends and the unique challenges youth digital activists face in connection with current laws, norms, market forces and educational practices. The current thought piece outlines those trends and challenges but also highlights relevant opportunities and offers recommendations for supporting youth digital activism.
The Net Generation’s Perceptions of Digital Activism
Digital activism has become an increasingly researched phenomenon as instances of online activism campaigns have become more numerous over the past decade. It refers to the efforts made on digital media to raise awareness for and make a difference to causes using methods outside of traditional activism, such as social media and online petitions. The Net Generation, people born between 1982 and 2003 who have grown up with technology and the internet, have been shown to be the ones that tend to take part in digital activism. However, digital activism and the Net Generation had not been studied together previously. This research aimed to fill this gap in literature by finding the perceptions of the Net Generation of digital activism. The strategy of the research was to use a survey with a cross sectional timeframe. The sample selected was students of the University of Cape Town. Data was collected by sending an online survey to the student body of UCT over the course of 5 days, with questions made to determine if they fit the characteristics of the Net Generation found in literature. They were also asked questions about their opinions of the specifics of digital activism and their reactions to seeing it on their social networks. The findings from the data collected showed that members of the Net Generation perceive digital activism to be effective in raising mass awareness and that they are generally inclined to participate in slacktivism if they deem the cause worthy. Most believe that people participate in online campaigns to help raise awareness as well as for selfish reasons, such as appearing as a good person. The Net Generation pays attention to digital activism and takes interest in the issues raised by online campaigns. Overall they believe that digital activism can make a difference and that the internet and social media are vital to the success of activism campaigns.
Digital Activism: Efficacies and Burdens of Social Media for Civic Activism
Arab, Media & Society , 2014
This article explores digital activism among Lebanese social movement organizations (SMOs) using a social movements theoretical framework.. It highlights the commonly used digital and social media tools for activism, and analyzes their perceived benefits and disadvantages. The study used a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative interviews, focus group, and participant observation methods. It found that digital activism is on the rise, and that social media platforms offer many perceived benefits for activism work, but also create significant obstacles in both the digital and offline realms. As such, this article offers recommendations, based on best practices, to bolster the efficacy of digital activism in Lebanon.
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021
The present study draws insights from primary research, examines the existing literature on the subject and uses case studies, with a prime objective to understand the use of social media by youth for digital activism. Thereafter, the paper provides recommendations for effectively leveraging digital platforms to encourage youth participation and activism. This research paper looks at the forms of Digital activism and the ways in which the youth have leveraged digital activism to voice their issues, highlighting their motivations and challenges. To get better insight into the barriers and motivations of youth participation in digital activism, multiple stakeholder conversations and survey of Indian youth within the age group 15-25 years (93 respondents) was conducted to gauge their perception on digital activism. Primary data was collected using an online survey from 93 respondents through a structured questionnaire. Results of this study showed that close to 76.09% of the sample doe...
Social Media and Political Participation (Youth Activists Perspective)
Social media are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media substantially change the way of communication and political participation. At the same time, Jan H. Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens, Ian P. McCarthy, and Bruno S. Silvestre develop the honeycomb framework of social media which defines the social media service into seven building blocks : (1) identity, (2) conversation, (3) sharing, (4) presence, (5) relationship, (6) reputation, and (7) group. In addition, in terms of political participation among youth activists, new media including social media give low budget for (1) informing, socializing, or campaigning; (2) coordinating among participants; (3) recruiting and mobilizing participants, and (4) developing online community and membership of political participant virtually. By using qualitative approach especially indepth interview with intra and extra campus activists in Universitas Indonesia, this study focuses to find and confirm the honeycomb framework of social media and any kinds of activities as a part of low budget political participation. The result of this study will be analyzed and discussed.
Emerging Role of Social Media in Political Activism: Perceptions and Practices
Social media is a tool that allows people to create and share different ideas, information and pictures/videos. It is an online way of communication to develop interaction and collaboration among people. Thus, social media might be changing the attitude and behavior of youth. It also spreads awareness among people by creating different online pages and accounts for sharing their agendas and information via these mediums. Role of social media in building the public perception is being analyzed. The study also examines the role of Facebook and Twitter in influencing political activism. It also intends to assess the level of empowerment due to awareness through social media. Survey method was used as a strategy to collect primary data. This study will enable us to understand the emerging role of social media in political activism and significant role of the online social media in political change.
Cyberactivism and Real-World Activism: Why Are Users Different
Cyberactivism, as civic engagement, is enabled by social media, and has attracted many users to participate in leading social change. To shed more light on the relationship between cyberactivism and real-world (social) activism, within a quantitative approach, employing correlational research design, and a group comparison research design, the current research examined two linear regression models for the relationships among online sharing, homophily, attitudinal influenceability, and behavioral influenceability, and also, among behavioral influenceability, cyberactivism and social activism, and then examined the effects of sociodemographic characteristics of Iranian Instagram users on these variables in a 393-participant sample. The alternative hypotheses about the relationships among the variables in these two models, were retained. The results also showed that age, gender, and occupational status had effects on almost all variables. This study contributes to the existing literature by introducing attitudinal and behavioral influenceability as important factors influencing cyberactivism and social activism. It encourages governments to take full advantage of online activities and cyberactivism to promote social participation and real-world activism, especially among youth and females, to transcend society, and better solve societal and global problems with the collective wisdom.
Cyberactivism: A generational comparison of digital activism
Since the events of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street took place largely through the Web using social networking and mobile devices, the concept of "cyberactivism" has become a popular topic of discussion and criticism within the media and academia. Cyberactivism, also referred to as web-based or digital activism, focuses on the use of technology to participate in political activism. Within cyberactivist scholarship, there is a focus on "digital natives"-youth who have grown up surrounded by and immersed in technology-and how they use technology for political means. Subsequently, those who used technology later in life are referred to as "digital immigrants." In this study (n = 305), participants were surveyed on their digital activist habits. The data allowed for an examination of the specific outlets of cyberactivism and the current political and technological climates that support that behavior. The findings, for which a Chi square statistical analysis was used, compare habits between age groups, revealing generational differences in the use of web-based tools. In particular, digital natives are more likely to use the internet to engage in political discussion and activity, but they do so passively. Digital immigrants, however, see the web in more of a supporting role for their activism, as they use web-based tools to emphasize the use of in-person action and discussion.