Youth in the Digital Age: Antecedents and Consequences of Digital Skills

Abstract

What actors and factors shape children and young people’s digital skills? And how do their digital skills impact the rest of their lives? These are the two research questions addressed in this paper, along with an analysis of how the research literature to date has measured digital skills. The findings reported here come from a systematic evidence review of the antecedents and consequences of digital skills (Haddon, Cino, Doyle, Livingstone, Mascheroni and Stoilova, forthcoming) as part of the ySKILLS project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Explaining inequalities in vulnerable children’s digital skills: The effect of individual and social discrimination

“…Interestingly, the results of the hierarchical multiple regressions (Table 3) identified few significant effects for the individual and social discrimination variables when compared to other predictors. Consistent with the literature on the antecedents of digital skills (Haddon et al, 2020), the most significant variables that account for higher levels of digital skills were parental mediation, age, gender, time spent online, preference for online social interaction, self-efficacy and personal attitudes towards the Internet. This suggests that SES and the variables of individual and social discrimination are not substantively associated with digital skills and do not offer much more information in the attempt to explain the variance in digital skills among European children who experience discrimination due to personal or social characteristics.…”

“…In line with previous studies that suggest that boys and girls develop different skills in different areas (van Deursen et al, 2016), boys have been found to report higher levels of digital skills, and this gender difference was larger among those children who felt discriminated against. While the reason for this difference may be a matter of variation in overall self-efficacy and perceived Internet self-confidence rather than of different competences (Haddon et al, 2020), it is important to note that a gender gap in digital skills may be further exacerbated in the case of individual and social discrimination.…”

“…Simultaneously, these works pave the way for research into the third-level digital divides that examines the different online and offline outcomes of Internet use and investigates how digital inequalities, when beginning early in life, impact educational and occupational opportunities. Based on these works (see Haddon et al, 2020), research on the digital inclusion of children has adopted a new conceptualisation of digital skills as ‘the ability to use ICTs in ways that help individuals to achieve beneficial, high-quality outcomes in everyday life for themselves and others’ comprising of ‘the extent to which one is able to increase the benefits of ICT use and reduce potential harm associated with more negative aspects of digital engagement’ (International Telecommunication Union [ITU], 2018: 23).…”

“…Questions about the digital divides that exist among children have been addressed by a number of empirical studies that examined the relationship between social and digital inequalities (for an overview, see Haddon et al, 2020). However, little research to date has examined social-psychological resources as drivers for digital inequalities among children in a cross-cultural comparative study.…”

Before and Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Self-Perception of Digital Skills in Saudi Arabia Higher Education: A Longitudinal Study

“…Hence, the current article is focused on digital skills (DS) as part of 21st-century skills. Previous publications defined six sub-skills of the (DS): digital information skills, digital communication skills, digital collaboration skills, critical thinking digital skills, creative digital skills, and problem-solving digital skills, as in the following concepts ( Table 1 ) [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”