Navigating the Hybrid Media Landscape: Youth Identity, Behaviour and Beliefs

Dear Colleagues,

The stages of development in childhood and youth correspond to crucial periods in the formation of identity and the consolidation of social and community values. This is a period in which socialisation is an essential mechanism, enabling the assimilation and interpretation of norms and standards about the world and the development of interpersonal and social skills. Traditionally, family, school, peer groups, religious communities and other collective environments were the privileged spaces for this socialisation. However, in recent decades, the rise of digital technologies has profoundly transformed modes of social interaction, generating new challenges and possibilities. With the advent of digital media, especially social networks, video platforms, virtual forums and online games in mediatised societies, young people have been interacting and learning about the world from an early age in contexts that transcend the temporal and geographical limits of physical spaces. These digital environments, when articulated with physical spaces, give rise to a scenario of hybrid environments, where social experience is distributed between online and offline, significantly altering socialisation processes and therefore requiring new forms of communication, the interpretation of signs and identity management.

The impact of this transformation is ambivalent. While, on the one hand, there is the potential to expand networks of sociability, access to information and strengthen traditionally marginalised voices, on the other hand, issues are emerging with harmful consequences in terms of mental and physical health, digital privacy and security, school and academic performance, and a reduction in the quality of social and family interactions. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there has been a 25% increase in cases of depression and anxiety among adolescents globally since the beginning of the decade as a result of excessive use of digital media. At the same time, the lack of digital literacy among young people makes them vulnerable to cyberbullying, grooming, identity theft, extortion, public humiliation, and other risks.

These phenomena call for critical and interdisciplinary analyses that take into account the complexities of interactions mediated by technology. The emergence of a media ecosystem that integrates analogue and digital platforms and its penetration into the daily lives of youth requires specific skills to interpret, evaluate and produce information autonomously, consciously and responsibly. Faced with the challenges posed by hybrid media, it is therefore essential that educational contexts, media companies and governments work together to provide a pedagogical response to the transformations of contemporary culture, training society and, in particular, young people to use new technologies responsibly. This is no longer an option for this century but a pressing need given the complexity of the world we live in. It is on the basis of these assumptions that this Special Issue, entitled “Navigating the Hybrid Media Landscape: Youth Identity, Behaviour and Beliefs”, aims to bring together research and reflections on the relationship between youth and hybrid media environments, characterised by the convergence of traditional and digital media, physical and virtual spaces, and multimodal communication practices. The aim is to understand and discuss how these dynamics have implications for socialisation processes, identity construction, cultural consumption, civic participation and the education of children and youth. We therefore cordially invite you to submit your papers on the socio-cultural, political and educational impact of this hybrid media presence, problematising the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of digital platforms, social networks, online games, and digital influencers, among other elements of the contemporary media ecology, with a view to promoting dialogue between scientific knowledge in the areas of communication, technology, sociology, psychology, education, applied social sciences and related areas.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Patrícia Silveira
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• hybrid media landscape
• youth behaviour
• digital identity
• media socialisation
• youth culture
• digital media
• media convergence
• digital literacy