Youth digital socialization and their other intervening factors

Abstract

The present article assesses the influence of different social factors on youth digital socialization itineraries and, in particular, on the existence of problematic behaviors related to the level of identification and exposure in digital environments. Firstly, we present a digital socialization model based on previous documentary research (authors, 2018). The model includes three types of factors: (i) the structural variables of "income level" and "education level"; (ii) sociotechnical variables, linked to the design of digital  platforms; and (iii) intervening variables involved in the digital socialization process, such as "active mediation" and "learning styles", which convey dispositions for how youth engage with digital environments. Secondly, we present the results of a multi-panel Delphi study designed to contrast the proposed model of youth digital socialization (authors, 2019). The results suggest that the intervening variables are more relevant than the structural ones in defining youth digital socialization pathways. In the discussion section, we argue  that digital environments open up new possibilities for social differentiation that are relatively in/dependent (or co-dependent) of the level of income and education. Based on the findings, we close the article with three proposals for the design of digital educational agendas.