Youth, technologies and becomings. Rethinking digital literacies through relational ontologies

In Canada, digital media has become an integral part of young individuals' daily lives. Their well-being, social participation, and future prospects are entwined with their ability to navigate the ever-evolving digital landscape. However, recent scandals such as Cambridge Analytica (2016) or evidence of TikTok surveillance (2022) underscore that digital tools are not neutral and can exert profound impacts on society, politics, and learning processes. To address these concerns, educational policies aimed at youth have developed digital literacy frameworks that delineate the essential skills necessary for young people to thrive in this digital milieu. Nonetheless, the conventional one-size-fits-all approach to many of these efforts fails to consider the rich tapestry of practices that young individuals engage in, shaped by diverse social and cultural practices. Moreover, this approach neglects the intricate and often obscured dynamics through which technology companies capitalize on social media use. Relying on the seminal works of Simondon (1958, 2007) on the interplay between individuals and technical objects within processes, this dissertation explores these complexities through a relational ontology (Barad, 2003) that considers technologies as more-than-human actors. This research is guided by these questions: How might we understand relationships between young individuals and technical objects in terms of digital literacies? Can a relational ontology offer a novel approach to digital literacies? Rooted in a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, this research investigates the experiences of 40 young individuals in British Columbia through 23 in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations. Using walkthrough methods (Light & al., 2018) to establish the co-agency of digital objects, the study delves into the multifaceted dimensions of human relations with digital objects, encompassing personal, collective, cultural, and political aspects. The findings are presented as thresholds (Jackson & Mazzei, 2013), where theoretical frameworks and lived experiences converge, offering insightful narratives in the form of five vignettes. These vignettes illustrate the far-reaching implications of design, datafication, and algorithmic processes on digital literacies. In conclusion, this dissertation presents a manifesto for researchers and educators, emphasizing the recognition of diverse and sometimes divergent processes at play when engaging with digital objects. It underscores the importance of acknowledging these complexities to mitigate potential discrimination in digital landscapes and to consider digital literacies differently.