We are increasingly dependent on digital technologies and digital media to participate, learn and work in modern society, and social media is integral to a range of social practices and forms of identity-work. Digital media is used extensively by young people and become ubiquitous to modern childhood and adolescence. These developments usher in demands on educators and people who work with children and adolescents in general to support their development of critical media literacy and digital Bildung throughout compulsory education and as a lifelong learning process. 

This course addresses central questions and themes related to how digital media becomes embedded in young peoples’ socialization and identity construction, critical media literacy in school and leisure activities, and ethical considerations that digital media poses for education and social life. The course covers theoretical perspectives on associations between digital media, adolescence, identity and Bildung in the modern world, informed by the social sciences and humanities. Theoretical perspectives and concepts will be applied to discussions about how digital technology shape the ways we interact, learn, and understand ourselves and society. Other important themes include how digital media fosters opportunities for inclusion and marginalization of individuals and social groups, problematic media-use, cyberbullying and harassment, digital games and gaming culture, and digitized and increasingly fluid knowledge practices of education and work life in modern society.