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the Commission and Member States agreed on new priorities for EU Youth Policy until 2018. It is necessary to give priority to the inclusion of all young people – in school, at work and as active citizens in democratic life. All young people would have the opportunity to live fulfilling lives, and I want all to have a political voice.
We should act on different fronts at the same time:

We need open channels of participation to reach more young people – from all backgrounds.

We need to help young people acquire the skills to participate. This includes digital literacy, but also media and civic skills and an ability to critically evaluate any kind of information.

And we have to mobilise everyone who can support young people – policy-makers, youth workers and other
practitioners – so that we work together across policy areas and across countries.

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Yet the internet also has a darker side. Everyone can be active online - in an almost unlimited way. Some people abuse the internet to bully others, to spread propaganda and hate speech or to carry out criminal and terrorist activities. The reality is that these people and organisations are hard to stop.

Moreover, contrary to popular belief, not all young people actually have access to the internet. And of those who are connected, not everyone is digitally competent. Young Europeans may be growing up in the digital era – but not all of them are able to use new technologies in a confident, critical and creative way.

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The internet and social media are changing democratic participation and the dynamics of politics in ways that we cannot yet fully understand. We have all seen how fast people can now organise a protest or how a Twitter storm can surge from nowhere. But what will be the long-term effects?

We have seen how social media can be used to build campaigns and bring people together to push for change .

At the same time, we see that many young people turn away from traditional forms of democracy, such as voting in elections or joining political parties.
So,how can digital tools actually change our daily life ?