The Increased Likelihood of Identification as EU Citizens among Critical Yet Positively Minded Young Digital Users
Abstrakt
In this article, we provide empirical evidence demonstrating that both identification with EU citizenship as well as active digital engagement depend significantly on young people’s abilities as critical thinkers. More specifically, we demonstrate that critical yet positively minded young people are more likely to identify as EU citizens. Such healthy sceptics are also more likely to report that they know their citizens’ rights and obligations and claim to be well informed about EU decision-making. We provide a more detailed analysis by distinguishing between four categories of youth digital users based on variety in their critical thinking modes and their identification as EU citizens; they can be described as rejecting, engaged, trusting or disinterested. They vary in their level of digital media use, modes of critical thinking, fact-checking and EU identification. We offer evidence indicating that the category of engaged youth demonstrates digital literacy traits that contribute to fostering digital citizenship. In other categories, there is ample opportunity for the enhancement of digital literacy skills. We offer empirically based guidelines tailored to the unique needs of the different groups of youth digital users that we have identified.Bibliografia
Adams, M. (2006). Hybridizing habitus and reflexivity: Towards an understanding of contemporary identity? Sociology, 40(3), 511–528.
Ayata, Z. (2024). European Union contracts in digital environments. In D. Ramiro Troitiño (Ed.), E-governance in the European Union: Strategies, tools, and implementation (pp. 173–185). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Bečević, Z., & Dahlstedt, M. (2022). On the margins of citizenship: Youth participation and youth exclusion in times of neoliberal urbanism. Journal of Youth Studies, 25(3), 362–379.
Buckingham, D., & Sefton-Green, J. (2018). Multimedia education: Media literacy in the age of digital culture. In R. Kubey (Ed.), Media literacy around the world (pp. 285–305). Routledge.
Costa, M. I. (2023). The legal concept of discrimination by association: Where does it fit into the digital era? UNIO–EU Law Journal, 9(1), 16–28.
de la Guardia, R. M. (2005). La política europea de España después de su integración en las Comunidades. Cuadernos europeos de Deusto, 32, 61–84.
European Commission. (2018). The multi-dimensional approach to disinformation: Report of the Independent and High Level Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation. Directorate-General for Communication
Networks, Content and Technology. Available at: file:///C:/Users/rekma/Downloads/a%20multi-dimensional%20approach%20to%20disinformation-KK0118221ENN.pdf
Ferretti, F. (2022). A single European data space and data act for the digital single market: On datafication and the viability of a PSD2-like access regime for the platform economy. European Journal of Legal Studies, 14, 173–218.
Frau-Meigs, D., O’Neill, B., Soriani, A., & Tomé, V. (2017). Digital citizenship education: Vol. 1. Overview and new perspectives. Council of Europe.
Giovanola, B. (2023). Justice, emotions, socially disruptive technologies. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 26(1), 104–119.
Golob, T., Makarovič, M., & Rek, M. (2021). Meta-reflexividad para la resiliencia contra la desinformación. Comunicar: Revista Científica de Comunicación y Educación, 66, 107–118.
Golob, T., Makarovič, M., & Rek, M. (2023). Parents’ meta-reflexivity benefits media education of children. Comunicar: Media Education Research Journal, 31(76), 95–103.
Golob, T., Rek, M., & Makarovič, M. (2024). European citizenship and digitalization: A new roadmap for interconnection. Internet of things, 27, 101282.
González-Cacheda, B., & Outeda, C. C. (2021). Political crowdfunding and resource mobilization for collective action: The keys to success. Technology in Society, 67, 101743.
Hamuľák, O. (2016). National sovereignty in the European Union: View from the Czech perspective. Springer.
Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and media literacy: A plan of action. A White Paper on the digital and media literacy recommendations of the Knight Commission on the information needs of communities in a democracy. Aspen Institute.
Kerikmäe, T., Ramiro Troitiño, D., & Shumilo, O. (2019). An idol or an ideal? A case study of Estonian e-governance: Public perceptions, myths and misbeliefs. Acta Baltica Historiae et Philosophiae Scientiarum, 7(1), 71–80.
Kiratli, O. S. (2023). Social media effects on public trust in the European Union. Public Opinion Quarterly, 87(3), 749–763.
Kuźnicka-Błaszkowska, D., & Jabloński, M. (2024). Information on gender identity as personal data under EU and US data protection models. Białostockie Studia Prawnicze, 29(3), 207–220.
Livingstone, S. (2004). Media literacy and the challenge of new information and communication technologies. The Communication Review, 7(1), 3–14.
Maatsch, A. (2024). Parliamentary adjustment during a crisis: Interplay of digitalization and domestic context factors. Internet of Things, 27, 101316.
Martens, H., & Hobbs, R. (2015). How media literacy supports civic engagement in a digital age. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 23(2), 120–137.
Mazur, V., & Ramiro Troitiño, D. (2024). The members of the EU and e-governance, analysis, and institutional support. In D. Ramiro Troitiño (Ed.), E-governance in the European Union: Strategies, tools, and implementation (pp. 39–55). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Mokrá, L. (2023). Digitally sovereign individuals: The right to disconnect as a new challenge for European legislation in the context of building the EU digital market. In D. Ramiro Troitiño, T. Kerikmäe, & O. Hamuľák (Eds.), Digital development of the European Union: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 189–197). Springer International Publishing.
Nyka, M., & Zapolska, K. (2024). The impact of the DAC7 Directive on the functioning of platforms and platform operators. Bialystok Legal Studies, 29(2), 177–193.
Outeda, C. C. (2024). The EU’s AI Act: A framework for collaborative governance. Internet of Things, 27(3) 101291.
Ramiro Troitiño, D., & Mazur, V. (2024). E-identity: A step forward to European digital citizenship. In D. Ramiro Troitiño (Ed.), E-governance in the European Union: Strategies, tools, and implementation (pp. 57–70). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Ramiro Troitiño, D., Kerikmäe, T., & Hamuľák, O. (2023). The digital future of the European Union. In D. Ramiro Troitiño, T. Kerikmäe, & O. Hamuľák (Eds.), Digital development of the European Union: An interdiscipinary perspective (pp. 3–6). Springer.
Rejmaniak, R. (2021). Bias in artificial intelligence systems. Białostockie Studia Prawnicze, 26(3), 25–44.
Rek, M. (2024). E-democracy in the EU. In D. Ramiro Troitiño (Ed.), E-governance in the European Union: Strategies, tools, and implementation (pp. 103–115). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Rek, M., Ljubotina, P., & Bašin, A. (2024). Media and high school students in Slovenia. Infrastructure Programme Media Literacy in Slovenia. Available at: https://zenodo.org/records/18265813
Richardson, J., & Milovidov, E. (2019). Digital citizenship education handbook: Being online, well-being online, and rights online. Council of Europe.
Rūse, I. (2014). Nordic–Baltic interaction in European Union negotiations: Taking advantage of institutionalized cooperation. Journal of Baltic Studies, 45(2), 229–246.
Sarrica, M., Grimaldi, F., & Nencini, A. (2010). Youth, citizenship and media: An exploration from the social representations perspective. Revue internationale de psychologie sociale, 23(4), 37–62.
Sime, D., & Behrens, S. (2023). Marginalized (non)citizens: Migrant youth political engagement, volunteering and performative citizenship in the context of Brexit. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46(7), 1502–1526.
