European Youth in the Digital Transformation

• July 25, 2025
• Andrew

Young people experience digitalisation as a reality and not as ‘new’. This is a distinction to other generations, who are witness to the transition, or also have experienced several waves of digitalisation in different areas of life (work, private, social). In this regard, one cannot moan unawareness or practices/habits of a younger generation but must take into account the perspective of digitality as the first normality in young people’s lives.

Digital Youth Work1 itself can be seen as a result of youth work encompassing the various socio-political and economic developments of digital transformation in a processual and youth-centred way. The aim is to accompany young people through the various aspects of digitalisation that they encounter in their everyday lives. This analysis tries to identify key elements of transformation processes for the field of youth, namely for those where power reflection and emancipation are important.

From the perspective of non-formal learning as emancipatory and power-critical pedagogical practice, this analysis also describes the potential of Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) for mutually filling these spaces and why EDC/HRE is a necessary perspective in discussions on digital youth work, digital competence digital citizenship education, media pedagogy, informational pedagogy.