Digital technologies have redefined the ways in which young people can engage in society. Social media and virtual communities are instrumental in connecting individuals and amplifying arguments. This has led to a new era of civic engagement with digital participation as a form of engagement for students, demonstrated by activities such as organizing of climate protests and raising awareness of the plight of a minority group (de Moor et al., 2020; Cho, Byrne, & Pelter, 2020). There is a perception that developments with technology should usher in an era of greater civic engagement (Dubow, Devaux, & Manville, 2017). The release of the IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2022 (Schulz et al., 2024) provides new data on students’ knowledge of and engagement in civic and citizenship-related topics from 24, predominantly European based, educational systems. Students completed a test of civic knowledge, followed by a questionnaire that included questions about their current and anticipated future level of engagement with technologies for civic engagement. Previous cycles of the ICCS study reported increased use of digital technologies that did not necessarily lead to an increase in civic engagement (Schulz et al., 2018; Schulz et al., 2010). Preliminary analyses with ICCS 2022 data revealed only a small proportion of students who frequently engage in more active forms of participation. These students were most likely to be interested in civic issues, but also demonstrated lower levels of civic knowledge (see Schulz et al., 2024). Building on these earlier results, this paper will use data from ICCS 2022 and earlier cycles to explore changes over time in how students use social media to engage in civic activities, their intentions for doing so in the future, their level of trust in social media and their exposure to learning about the reliability of online information. The paper will also examine the characteristics of students who are currently and more likely to participate in future civic engagement activities using digital technologies. Our preliminary analysis reveals that while digital technologies open new avenues for civic engagement for young people, there is a notable gap in how they effectively harness these tools. This gap underscores the need for integrating digital literacy with civic education to nurture future citizens to become engaged and knowledgeable as technologies become increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives.

Cho, A., Byrne, J., & Pelter, Z. (2020). Digital civic engagement by young people. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/706/file/UNICEF-Global-Insight-digital-civic-engagement-2020.pdf de Moor, J., Uba, K., Wahlström, M., Wennerhag, M., & De Vydt, M. (Eds.). (2020). Protest for a future II: Composition, mobilization and motives of the participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 20-27 September, 2019, in 19 cities around the world. Södertörn University. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-40271 Dubow, T., Devaux, A., & Manville, C. (2017). Civic Engagement: How Can Digital Technology Encourage Greater Engagement in Civil Society? RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.com/stable/resrep17637 Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Kerr, D., & Losito, B. (2010). ICCS 2009 International Report. Civic knowledge, attitudes and engagement among lower secondary school students in thirty-eight countries. Amsterdam: IEA. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., & Friedman, T. (2018). Becoming citizens in a changing world. IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 International Report. Cham: Springer. Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V. Friedman, T. (2024). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Change. ICCS 2022 International Report. Cham: Springer.