Scrolling with young people: Transferring general youth work methods into digital spaces

With the increasing significance of the online lifeworld in the lives of adolescents, youth work must adapt its methods to support young people’s personal development and social participation in this hybrid online space. To date, there is limited knowledge on how youth workers can effectively employ methodical actions in the online environment. This paper draws on established offline youth work methods to explore their potential transferability to the online context. The research question guiding this study is: How can offline youth work methods be used in the online lifeworld to support adolescents’ developmental needs? Using the Change Laboratory method, 26 youth workers from 14 youth work organisations in the Netherlands participated in this research. The findings suggest that while offline methods provide a valuable resource, they cannot be directly transferred to the online context without adaptation. Instead, they offer a framework for seven specific methodical actions that can be adapted or developed for the online context. They are: 1) Increasing online visibility and accessibility, 2) Orienting, 3) Signalling, 4) Making contact, 5) Building meaningful relationships, 6) Assessing needs, and 7) Providing support. By identifying these seven methodical actions which are crucial for addressing the developmental needs of adolescents online, this paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on youth work in the online lifeworld.