Young people online: digital naives, multitasking and always being yourself [research]
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 10:36 am
A few months ago I described on Frankwatching a number of initial results of European projects such as Dynamic Identity and IDentifEYE : that many young people say they do not play roles and that many young people experience stress when communicating offline . I received many questions about the underlying reports. Now the basic report “ Youngster identities in the context of online communication, new technologies and visual information ” has been published. The report contains eight conclusions about the identities of young people in the European Union based on six years of research in eight countries in nine projects.
Methodology
The project data were collected through intensive interviews with 734 students aged 8 to 18 years and surveys and pilots among 2,674 students. The project data were compared with both traditional and the most recent professional literature and with relevant studies in Europe and the United States.
The collection of project data was not an end in itself. It is a by-catch of testing newly designed educational modules in schools. The development and testing of the educational modules was partly financed by the European Commission and by the Polish Ministry of Culture.
The conclusions
Eight clear conclusions can be drawn from the research.
1) Young people prefer asynchronous communication
Although many young people believe that face-to-face contact is more important, they prefer chatting using text messages to offline meetings and phone calls. For many young people, the macedonia telegram number list offline reality contains many obstacles to communication, especially because an immediate response is expected from them. During chatting, on the other hand, there is time to polish the outgoing messages. Moreover, chatting gives a feeling of control, something that is rare for young people.
2) Young people do not have a ready-made identity narrative
Traditional social psychological theory claims that we have a ready-made story in our heads that we have constructed ourselves, about ourselves. However, most young people have only a vague idea of who they are and formulate who they are on the spot. When young people are repeatedly asked: “Who are you so far?” only a very small minority (5 to 10 percent) give a consistent answer. The answer of this group is so simple (along the lines of: “myself,” “a person,” “I am a student and I like to play the guitar”) that it does not resemble in the slightest the carefully constructed story about ourselves that we are supposed to have in our heads according to professional literature.
3) Communication between generations is problematic
Many young people and parents do not trust each other when it comes to what young people experience online. Many young people think that adults lie and are calculating, while parents are very protective. As a result, the way parents talk to young people about their online experiences does not work, if they even start this conversation. Many parents emphasize the dangers of the internet, which is why many young people do not take their words seriously. That is a shame, because many young people want to talk to adults about what they do and experience online, but in their own way and without fear of punishment.
4) Young people always claim to be themselves
Many young people claim that they do and say the same thing in every situation. According to them, they only change their behavior if they think they can be punished. However, an outsider can see that many young people do different things and say different things in different situations. A possible explanation for this is that many young people do not try to fit into situations ('playing roles'), but have no problem saying what is expected of them in a situation if they do not take this situation seriously. Many young people seem to filter out of reality for themselves only that which affects them, both positive and negative elements.
5) New technology is a key to unlock youth
New technology and online communication are enough for many young people to start a relationship of trust with another person. This effect was already observed in the 1970s ( ELIZA effect ): technology is an important factor for young people (and also older people) to open up. This effect also seems to have an effect on the contact of young people with adults. Adults who understand life online seem to be more easily trusted than adults who do not. This is what happened in all projects. And this also seems to be an important reason for young people to go to their parents when they experience something negative online.
6) Young people are 'digital naives'
Although young people grew up with the internet, they rarely think critically and reflectively about new technologies, visual information and online communication. Research shows that many young people cannot distinguish advertisements in Google search results from organic search results and that many do not know that vloggers are sometimes paid to show products. The projects showed that young people think little about the effect of being online, have only a very vague idea of profiling and often have a one-sided positive image of new technologies.
7) Multitasking damages young people's identities
Multitasking is the act of quickly jumping back and forth between tasks, not doing multiple tasks at the same time. This quickly leads to exhaustion. Multitasking prevents a lot of new information from being recorded in short-term memory, which means it cannot end up in long-term memory. Or new information ends up in the wrong place in the brain. Because our identity is largely based on the memories we have and the organization and selection of these memories, many young people have a fragmented definition of who they are.
8) Adults need to educate themselves
What is needed are wise adults who understand life online. This means that adults in general and parents in particular need to educate themselves in asynchronous communication and new technologies.
Adults should take the time to confidently talk to young people about their online experiences, rather than checking what young people are doing online. They should set a good example by not multitasking. In this way, they encourage young people to build a coherent identity and to think more critically and reflectively about new technologies, visual information and online communication.
Methodology
The project data were collected through intensive interviews with 734 students aged 8 to 18 years and surveys and pilots among 2,674 students. The project data were compared with both traditional and the most recent professional literature and with relevant studies in Europe and the United States.
The collection of project data was not an end in itself. It is a by-catch of testing newly designed educational modules in schools. The development and testing of the educational modules was partly financed by the European Commission and by the Polish Ministry of Culture.
The conclusions
Eight clear conclusions can be drawn from the research.
1) Young people prefer asynchronous communication
Although many young people believe that face-to-face contact is more important, they prefer chatting using text messages to offline meetings and phone calls. For many young people, the macedonia telegram number list offline reality contains many obstacles to communication, especially because an immediate response is expected from them. During chatting, on the other hand, there is time to polish the outgoing messages. Moreover, chatting gives a feeling of control, something that is rare for young people.
2) Young people do not have a ready-made identity narrative
Traditional social psychological theory claims that we have a ready-made story in our heads that we have constructed ourselves, about ourselves. However, most young people have only a vague idea of who they are and formulate who they are on the spot. When young people are repeatedly asked: “Who are you so far?” only a very small minority (5 to 10 percent) give a consistent answer. The answer of this group is so simple (along the lines of: “myself,” “a person,” “I am a student and I like to play the guitar”) that it does not resemble in the slightest the carefully constructed story about ourselves that we are supposed to have in our heads according to professional literature.
3) Communication between generations is problematic
Many young people and parents do not trust each other when it comes to what young people experience online. Many young people think that adults lie and are calculating, while parents are very protective. As a result, the way parents talk to young people about their online experiences does not work, if they even start this conversation. Many parents emphasize the dangers of the internet, which is why many young people do not take their words seriously. That is a shame, because many young people want to talk to adults about what they do and experience online, but in their own way and without fear of punishment.
4) Young people always claim to be themselves
Many young people claim that they do and say the same thing in every situation. According to them, they only change their behavior if they think they can be punished. However, an outsider can see that many young people do different things and say different things in different situations. A possible explanation for this is that many young people do not try to fit into situations ('playing roles'), but have no problem saying what is expected of them in a situation if they do not take this situation seriously. Many young people seem to filter out of reality for themselves only that which affects them, both positive and negative elements.
5) New technology is a key to unlock youth
New technology and online communication are enough for many young people to start a relationship of trust with another person. This effect was already observed in the 1970s ( ELIZA effect ): technology is an important factor for young people (and also older people) to open up. This effect also seems to have an effect on the contact of young people with adults. Adults who understand life online seem to be more easily trusted than adults who do not. This is what happened in all projects. And this also seems to be an important reason for young people to go to their parents when they experience something negative online.
6) Young people are 'digital naives'
Although young people grew up with the internet, they rarely think critically and reflectively about new technologies, visual information and online communication. Research shows that many young people cannot distinguish advertisements in Google search results from organic search results and that many do not know that vloggers are sometimes paid to show products. The projects showed that young people think little about the effect of being online, have only a very vague idea of profiling and often have a one-sided positive image of new technologies.
7) Multitasking damages young people's identities
Multitasking is the act of quickly jumping back and forth between tasks, not doing multiple tasks at the same time. This quickly leads to exhaustion. Multitasking prevents a lot of new information from being recorded in short-term memory, which means it cannot end up in long-term memory. Or new information ends up in the wrong place in the brain. Because our identity is largely based on the memories we have and the organization and selection of these memories, many young people have a fragmented definition of who they are.
8) Adults need to educate themselves
What is needed are wise adults who understand life online. This means that adults in general and parents in particular need to educate themselves in asynchronous communication and new technologies.
Adults should take the time to confidently talk to young people about their online experiences, rather than checking what young people are doing online. They should set a good example by not multitasking. In this way, they encourage young people to build a coherent identity and to think more critically and reflectively about new technologies, visual information and online communication.