Young People, Digital Media, and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of Research

New technologies raise fears in public discourse. In terms of digital media use and youth, the advice has been to monitor and limit access to minimize the negative impacts. However, this advice would also limit the positive impacts of digital media. One such positive impact is increased engagement i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial science computer review Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 111 - 127
Main Authors Boulianne, Shelley, Theocharis, Yannis
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2020
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Causality
Digital broadcasting
Digital media
Discourse analysis
Internet
Mass media effects
Meta-analysis
New technology
Participation
Politics
Systematic review
Young adults
Youth
civic engagement
meta-analysis
digital media
youth
political behavior
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:New technologies raise fears in public discourse. In terms of digital media use and youth, the advice has been to monitor and limit access to minimize the negative impacts. However, this advice would also limit the positive impacts of digital media. One such positive impact is increased engagement in civic and political life. This article uses meta-analysis techniques to summarize the findings from 106 survey-based studies (965 coefficients) about youth, digital media use, and engagement in civic and political life. In this body of research, there is little evidence to suggest that digital media use is having dire impacts on youth’s engagement. We find that the positive impacts depend on directly political uses of digital media, such as blogging, reading online news, and online political discussion. These online activities have off-line consequences on participation, such as contacting officials, talking politics, volunteering, and protesting. We also find a very strong relationship between online political activities, such as joining political groups and signing petitions, with off-line political activities, which undermine claims of slacktivism among youth. Finally, while research generally assumes a causal flow from digital media to participation, the evidence for the alternative causal flow is strong and has very different implications on interventions designed to address youth’s levels of engagement in civic and political life.
ISSN:0894-4393
1552-8286
DOI:10.1177/0894439318814190