July 1, 2018

If you have a spring in your step and you embody the zeitgeist of today – Happy Youth Day to you!

Every first Sunday of July, Singapore celebrates Youth Day to empower the young visionaries for the future. There’s no better way to empower the young, than with charged up information and communication technologies (ICTs). Assoc. Prof. Zhang Weiyu (Dept. of Communications and New Media) interviewed 23 young Singaporean activists aged 18 to 34 focusing on their use of ICTs. She discovered that youths are concerned about the effectiveness of such platforms in enacting policy change in real life. Unlike some liberal democracies, young Singaporean activists are no less engaged than their elder counterparts and are involved in both traditional welfare work such as community volunteering and ‘new’ arenas of activism such as issue-based advocacy.

Nevertheless, young local activists differ from the older generation in the causes they are attracted to. Youths tend to champion social issues that do not challenge the ruling power while their seniors were frequently involved in opposition politics, intentionally or otherwise. Notably too, these young activists have had more opportunities to get involved in civil society activities than their older counterparts. This may inspire the young to deepen their interest in public affairs.

The article, “Redefining youth activism through digital technology in Singapore” (2013), was published in the International Communication Gazette.

To read the full article, click here.