Get out of social media! Youth media work between protection and facilitation

Since the Australian legislative initiative in November 2024 at the latest, there has also been a lively debate in Germany and other European countries about banning social media for young people. This raises fundamental questions about young people's rights to empowerment, protection and participation in the digital society, as social media is not only used for entertainment, but is an integral part of their living and learning environments. Today, digital spaces are part of everyday life, and self-determined, safe movement and critical-reflective action in them must be learned and practiced. At the same time, children and young people are exposed to a variety of content and interaction risks in social media and need support in dealing with them.

Educational professionals need to position themselves in this area of tension between enabling and protecting and keep both goals in mind if they want to develop guidelines for action and derive concrete measures for their work. This year's symposium on youth media work in NRW will therefore provide insights into the perspectives of experts in media education and youth protection and support professionals in dealing with the topic in an objective, differentiated and goal-oriented manner.

Some of the central questions of the event are

• What do children and young people need in order to use social media in a safe, self-determined, critical and responsible way?
• What impact would a ban have on media practices and the social and cultural participation of young people and what could age-appropriate alternatives look like?
• What limits would a ban on social media have from the perspective of youth media protection and which services would be affected?
• What could potential regulatory measures look like and how can young people be meaningfully involved in their planning and implementation?
• What structures and content of educational offers to promote media literacy are necessary if they are to make a ban superfluous and enable responsible and safe use of social media?
• What rights and obligations would a ban entail for young people, educational professionals, legal guardians and platform operators?

The GMK Youth Media Work NRW symposium will address these and other topics in keynote speeches, practical workshops and a panel discussion.

Our speakers:

• Britta Schülke, AJS NRW
• Martin Bregenzer, klicksafe
• Silke Knabenschuh, AJS NRW
• Charlotte Lohmann, Amadeu Antonio Foundation

Conference moderator: Andrea Marten

• You can find the program here.
• Online registration: www.gmk-net.de/veranstaltungen/nrw-fachtag-2025/#anmeldung
• There is no participation fee, registration is required.

The event is funded by the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refuge and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and is being held in cooperation with the Bielefeld City Library.

Materials and results will be made available online after the event.