Navigating Emerging Media Technologies: Youth, Identity, and Digital Societies

Dear Colleagues,

Emerging media technologies, including social media platforms, algorithmic systems, artificial intelligence, and digitally mediated learning environments, are reshaping the conditions under which young people form identities, acquire knowledge, and participate in social life. Contemporary youth do not merely use digital technologies, they interpret, negotiate, and actively navigate complex media environments that structure opportunities for expression, learning, socialization, and participation. This Special Issue explores how young people make sense of and engage with emerging media technologies within evolving digital societies.

The overall focus of this Special Issue is the techno-social relationship between youth and media technologies, examining how technological infrastructures and social processes mutually shape experiences of identity, agency, and development. The scope encompasses interdisciplinary perspectives from sociology, media and communication studies, education, psychology, youth studies, and related fields. We particularly encourage contributions that move beyond technological determinism to analyze how young people interpret, adapt to, and contest technologically mediated environments.

We welcome empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions addressing topics such as youth engagement with artificial intelligence and algorithmic systems, digital identity construction, platformed socialization, media literacy and learning technologies, online participation, and ethics. Studies employing qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, or comparative approaches are invited, including research situated in formal learning settings as well as everyday digital practices.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to advance techno-sociological understandings of youth in digital societies by foregrounding young people as active interpreters of technological change rather than passive users. By bringing together research across disciplinary boundaries, this Special Issue seeks to foster dialogue between social theory, educational research, and psychological perspectives on youth development in technologically mediated contexts.

Contributions should adhere to one of three categories of papers—Article, Concept Paper, or Review/Systemic Review—of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.

Dr. Hananel Rosenberg
Dr. Hila Lowenstein-Barkai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.