Скачать или смотреть Engaged for Change: Youth, Digital Spaces, and Social Movements (

From international activism to engagement with hyperlocal issues, youth have tapped into the networking power of social media and online spaces to build community, inform themselves, and engage in social and cultural change. In this #AskTheExperts webinar, a panel featuring a leading youth digital advocate and experts in adolescent development, education, and social welfare explore the development of civic engagement in youth, provide examples of online youth leadership and community, review challenges and risks youth encounter, and provide tips for parents, caregivers, and educators to support positive online civic engagement.

[00:00] Intro
Kris Perry, MSW, Executive Director of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, introduces the webinar and panel moderator Dana R. Fisher, PhD, Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland and the President of the Eastern Sociological Society. Dr. Fisher provides a brief overview of youth civic engagement and introduces the next panelist.

[03:21] Laura Wray-Lake, PhD
Laura Wray-Lake, PhD, Professor of Social Welfare at UCLA, shares the creative new forms of civic engagement young people are now utilizing and explains why adolescence is a developmentally apt time for youth to develop civic interests. Dr. Wray-Lake also examines the ways in which social media provides an important youth-led context for the newest generations of adolescents to build leadership skills and community, share stories, and take collective action, both online and offline.

[15:14] Shakuntala Banaji, PhD
Shakuntala Banaji, PhD, Full Professor of Media and Communications and Program Director of Media, Culture and Social Change at the London School of Economics, dives into the affordances and dangers digital media poses for youth engaging in online social activism. With examples from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and India, she shows how social media has become a node for information, learning and creative mobilizations for youth. She explains how political authoritarianism, corporate greed, and intersecting inequalities of gender, sexuality, class, caste, race and religion increase dangers to online activists such as disinformation, organized hate networks, burnout and exclusion due to access issues. She concludes by sharing specific ways young people can engage online and support each other while avoiding some of these harms.

[31:07] Tiera Tanksley, PhD
Tiera Tanksley, PhD, Assistant Professor of Equity, Diversity and Justice in Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, summarizes her research on how Black youth engage as digital activists and civic agitators and highlights particular benefits to Black girls from the opportunities online for building community and enacting tangible change. She also details how Black youth experience unique harms from exposure to pervasive online imagery and video of racial violence, as well as from engaging in social movements online. Dr. Tanksley highlights how women and girls of color are hyper-vulnerable to digital assault as well as underprotected by moderation systems and algorithms, and ends by urging critical awareness about algorithmic bias and the dangers it poses for youth of color.

[42:31] Maru Gonzalez, EdD
Maru Gonzalez, EdD, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Human Sciences and Youth Development Specialist at North Carolina State University State, provides tips for how parents, caregivers and educators can nurture youth activists in their lives. Drawing on her experience as an educator, researcher, and parent herself, she recommends adults cultivate an equitable and strength-based environment where youth can communicate openly and critically with adults. Dr. Gonzalez encourages adults to support young people’s civic engagement through leading by example, amplifying youth stories, prioritizing self-care, and learning from youth involvement.

[55:09 ] Emma Lembke
Emma Lembke, Founder and Executive Director of LOG OFF movement, describes how her negative experiences with social media led her towards a realization that online advocacy can take many nontraditional forms and a journey to becoming a leading advocate for digital consciousness amongst young people. She shares how the LOG OFF movement has grown through online youth advocacy and storytelling, and identifies what lessons she’s learned from her activism, including the vital importance of community for youth looking to get involved today.

[01:07:41] Discussion and Q&A
Dr. Fisher moderates a cross-cultural conversation amongst the panelists where they address questions from the live audience and each other. The panel discusses ways youth activists connect across the world, the influence of artificial intelligence in online spaces, and how to support youth to encourage change. The webinar concludes with final thoughts from each panelist, including suggestions on how and why adults can trust young people to lead and make a difference.