Concerns about the rights of the child to participate in policy

decisions that affect them and worrying trends in electoral

participation by the youngest cohorts of voters have inspired a

strengthened focus on young people and their role in the democratic

process. Rarely do discussions of this policy issue escape references to

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), and in particular, the

Internet, as fruitful avenues for engaging young people in the work of

public institutions such as parliament. Such references are not

surprising. After all, young people are amongst the most avid users of

these technologies. If public officials and institutions hope to engage

with young people in any way, it will likely necessarily involve the use

of ICTs and the Internet, since these are such fundamental aspects of

young people’s everyday lives. In addition, some argue that because

the Internet accommodates flexible, networked communication it may

be better suited to young people who are likely to be intimidated or

turned off by the hierarchical, rule-based, and adult-dominated brand

of political exchange associated with other political forums. Add to this

the fact that young people feel empowered online as the relative

experts in the use of the medium, and it seems that the Internet holds

much promise for public institutions seeking to empower young people

as political actors (Livingstone, 2007).

Unfortunately, experience in the United Kingdom so far reveals

that this promise has yet to be realized. While opportunities for young
people to participate in online politics have proliferated in recent years,

research suggests that youth largely pass these opportunities by.

According to a 2004 study, 42% of those aged 12-19 who go online

at least once a week have never visited political websites. Of those

who have visited such sites, the majority (64%) simply “checked out

the site”, suggesting that even if young people are willing to visit a

political site, they are not likely to interact with it in anyway. Peer-to-

peer communication amongst young people also appears largely void

of political exchange, with over half of those aged 12-19 that email,

instant message or chat saying that they never talk about political or

civic issues via these channels, and only 4% saying that they do so

often (Livingstone & Bober, 2004). In addition, research suggests that

the majority of UK youth use the Internet as a platform for

communicating with those they already know from the offline world in

restricted networks, viewing communication with strangers as

pointless and dangerous. This research also reveals that young people

value privacy in their online communications, and resent those who

attempt to invade their private online worlds (Livingstone & Bober,

2003). Thus, not only do young people appear reluctant to use the

Internet as a political platform, but the notion that they use it for

broad, public, interactive participation within open networks, of a

political nature or otherwise, is also not supported by research.

Last, the assumption that young people will be willing to take up

opportunities for online political engagement is undermined by what

we know about socio-economic determinants of political participation

in general. The online world is not insulated from the reality of offline

political dynamics – working class children are less likely to vote for

something online, contribute to a message board, or sign a petition

online than middle-class children. Arguably, those who are already pre-

disposed to political participation, and those who are generally not the

prime focus of democratic engagement strategies, stand to gain the

most benefit from an increased emphasis on online political

opportunities (Livingstone & Bober, 2004). Paradoxically, attempts to

reduce gaps in participation between the young and old through online

engagement efforts may simply exacerbate existing gaps between

young people who are already more likely to be politically engaged and

those who are traditionally marginalized from the democratic process.

If research so far suggests that young people at best seize

opportunities for online political participation unequally, and at worst,

do not participate in online politics at all, this begs the question of why

the Internet remains such a central focus of concern in the academic

and policy community interested in young people’s political

participation. Is the emphasis on the Internet distracting us from

examining more fruitful approaches to youth engagement?

Not necessarily. Arguably, the Internet still holds more potential as

an avenue for engaging young people than others, for the reasons
suggested above. Still, our initial experience with online engagement

reveals, not surprisingly, that despite this great potential, the same

barriers to youth engagement present in the offline world also apply to

online engagement efforts. These barriers are well-known – young

people claim they are not interested in political issues, doubt that their

input is valued, feel they are too young to become involved in politics,

or feel politics is boring (Livingstone & Bober, 2004).

In other words, despite its promise as a means of engaging young

people in the work of public institutions such as parliament, the

Internet has not proven to be a silver bullet solution capable of

eradicating the deeper issues that cause young people to withdraw

from formal political participation in the first place. If parliaments and

parliamentarians wish to empower young people as citizens, then, it

will take much more than simply setting up a Facebook page or

creating a Twitter account. After all, these are just tools, and their

power lies in how they are used and for what end, not simply the fact

that they are used. As part of a strategy that seeks genuine

engagement on young people’s terms, taking into account their needs

and promising youth meaningful influence over policy decisions, these

tools will likely be a great support for those attempting to empower

young citizens. Without this underlying strategy, however, forays into

online engagement will likely just reproduce what we already see in

the offline world, with public institutions reaching out, and young
people largely withdrawing.

References

Livingstone, Sonia & Bober, M. (2003). UK children go online: Listening

to young people’s experiences. London: LSE Research Online.
Retrieved from http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/archive/0000388

Livingstone, Sonia & Bober, M. (2004). Third report: Active

participation or just more information? Young people’s take up of
opportunities to act and interact on the internet. Economic Social
and Research Council.

Livingstone, Sonia. (2007). The Challenge of Engaging Youth Online:

Contrasting Producers' and Teenagers' Interpretations of
Websites. European Journal of Communication, (22) 2, 165-184.