Young People on the Edge: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Interplay between Online and Offline Lives

Abstract

This article explores how vulnerable and marginalized youth navigate their lives across online and offline domains in late modern society. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, it examines how their digital practices interact with their perceptions of their social lives. While much research on digital inequalities relies primarily on quantitative approaches and might overlook the voices of these youth, this study centers on their experiences. Combining insights from digital competence research with classical and contemporary sociological perspectives, the article sheds light on the ways in which young people’s digital practices both reflect and reinforce their social realities. The analysis reveals how digital spaces can simultaneously provide escape and agency but also exacerbate vulnerability and marginalization, with the interplay between online and offline circumstances contributing to a risk of widening social and digital divide. However, institutional support is shown to have the potential to positively influence these dynamics, suggesting that such interventions may reshape the youth’s lives and thereby also their digital practices. The findings underscore the need for an integrated approach that considers not only digital competences but also the broader socio-economic and socio-psychological factors shaping young people’s lives and opportunities.

Keywords

• Digital practices
• Vulnerable youth
• Marginalization
• Digital divides
• New vulnerability