Written by: Kerenina Kezaride Dansholm & Helene Samantha Dansholm
Abstract: This article engages with societal concerns regarding youth use of social media by exploring Generation Z’s intercultural democratic competences in two datasets: group discussions with youth about social media and TikToks created by youth. Intercultural democratic competences are operationalised through the lens of the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture and inductive analysis reveals that Generation Z demonstrates competences of: valuing human dignity and human rights, civic mindedness, empathy, and knowledge and critical understanding of the world. Furthermore, through applying the analytical 'child as method', the predominantly one-sided negative assessment of youth and social media use, visible in public debate, is called into question. A call is made for more nuancing of the issue(s), as well as recognising the uniqueness of youth mediations on digital platforms, perhaps even learning from their experience in intercultural digital democratic engagement.
Keywords: youth, social media, intercultural competence, democratic engagement, child as method