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In 2010 UCSIA organized the e-Youth conference that covered a wide range of topics related to young people and ICT, in collaboration with professor Michel Walrave of the research group Media & ICT in Organisations and Society (MIOS) of the University of Antwerp. The workshop ‘Youth 2.0: Affordances, Uses and Risks of Social Media’, hosted by the same partners and attended by 90 researchers, focused on young people and their use of social media and is the first in a series of four workshops in 2013 that UCSIA further dedicates to youth and civic participation, value transfer and education and youth (sub)cultures.
In the opening session of the workshop, which was attended by the workshop participants, as well as the wider public (over 120 attendees,) a nuanced account of young people’s uses of social media - on how these communication tools are important during formative life phases young people go through, while also being conscious of the risks they may take or encounter – was brought by two keynote speakers: Jochen Peter, professor at the University of Amsterdam’s school of communication research and Ola Erstad, professor at the University of Oslo’s Institute for Educational Research.
The choice for this workshop was informed by the following considerations. First of all, social media have truly become a mainstream phenomenon. They are not just a technological improvement, but represent an important shift in how the internet is used.
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The essence of so-called ‘social media’ - based on the technological and ideological foundations of Web 2.0 - is to allow users to socialize and interact, while also stimulating their active and creative use of these communication tools. Other online platforms focus on the consumption of content, but social media encourage users to produce and share content with each other. This active role offers more opportunities, but also includes more responsibility, as individuals actively take part in the creation and the flow of online content.
Young people are at the forefront of social media usage. Whether at home, in school or on the go, many adolescents appear to be glued to their digital devices. In the eyes of many adults, they often seem to be living lives of their own online. Lives that sometimes slip under the radar of parents and teachers. However, adolescents are not only innovators who grasp the new opportunities these sites have to offer. Sometimes, they are also vulnerable individuals facing new challenges. This raises questions about the implications of digital communication in general, and social media in particular, for young people’s development and well-being.
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