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Background

Marginalisation affects a young person’s ability to exercise autonomy and citizenship. Young people experiencing marginalisation have limited access to material and psychosocial resources, have fewer opportunities to participate in community activities, are more likely to experience disparities in access to health care, education and employment, and, as a result experience higher rates of social and subsequent mental health problems.

The rapid growth of ICT has generated heated debate about its influence on civic engagement. Some argue that given young people are amongst the greatest adopters of these technologies ICT based civic engagement programs may represent a significant opportunity to increase civic engagement and improve the mental health of young people. Others suggest that the technology revolution has broadened the gap between the engaged and disengaged and created a further divide for young people already experiencing significant marginalisation.