Youth development under digital surveillance

Challenges, opportunities, and future directions

Bibliographic Data

ID19487828
AuthorsА М Ishkhanyan (0000-0001-8986-6852, Presidium, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia), Artur Ishkhanyan (Institute for Physical Research, corresponding author), Mane Hakobyan (National Academy of Sciences of Armenia)
Year2026
Volume11
Pages1811778-1811778
Publication date2026-05-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2297-7775 • E-ISSN: 2297-7775
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fsoc.2026.1811778
PMID42183034
OpenAlexW7160635648
LanguageEN
References cited34

Digital technologies now operate as developmental infrastructures, shaping how young people learn, relate, and form identities. This paper develops a Vygotskian framework for analyzing youth surveillance, complemented by Foucauldian and Deleuzian perspectives on power and control. We argue that contemporary surveillance systems do not simply observe youth but reorganize the relational and cultural conditions of development. Drawing on research across three analytical layers—situated environments, systemic infrastructures, and transformative horizons—we show how surveillance channels developmental pathways toward legibility and prediction. At the same time, youth enact situated forms of agency that reconfigure these systems. The paper concludes with policy and design implications that foreground developmental dignity, epistemic justice, and youth co-authorship of digital environments

Adolescent development · Agency (philosophy) · Positive Youth Development · Power (physics) · Situated · Transformative learning · Youth participation · Youth studies · Children's Rights and Participation · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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