Young people spend their free time on the Internet. This is also the place where they inform themselves about politics, exchange ideas and spend leisure time. Whether the so called “mass media” have an influence on young people's political orientations and interests has been discussed since the 1970s. From today's perspective, media, including the internet, have a place as a fixed political socialization instance, alongside the family, peers and school. The talk examines the relationship between young people’s digital information and communication with politics, especially focusing on the role of humour. It looks firstly at how young people use digital tools and media to discuss, produce and inform themselves or others about politics, but also, what temporality has to do with that. Secondly, it asks what role humour plays in the digital political information and communication of young people, what function it has and what form it takes. This will be connected to the idea of playful caring about others – or not. The talk and its initial idea draw from the empirical material from a research project about politics, participation and biographies of young people in Swiss ("Biographical Experiences and political Engagement" (2023-2026)).

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