Digital youth work: a systematic review with a proposal

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between three areas: (1) youth digital participation practices aimed at fostering digital citizenship; (2) the competencies (skills and knowledge) required for critical digital literacy; and (3) the role of digital media in social work education to foster social inclusion. The purpose of this examination is to develop the notion of digital youth work, specified as a proposal for critical digital literacy that guides young people toward digital participation with social impact. We conducted a systematic review of academic articles published from 2015 to 2019 to obtain an overview of these issues. The results were used to address the following aspects of digital youth work: the main scholar approaches on digital citizenship and how they relate to the dominant notions of youth; debates on youth digital participation and tensions arising from the use of digital media in social work education; and the characteristics of a critical digital literacy whose competencies are geared towards social inclusion of young people.