Information, Communication, and Content Creation Digital Skills: Task-Based Performance Tests among Youth in Europe

Youth’s digital skills are of growing interest to scholars and policymakers. This paper reports on a performance test in which over 600 youth from six European countries tested their skills by undertaking tasks measuring information, communication, and content creation digital skills. The findings question whether youth have the skills needed to reap the benefits from online information provision and social interactions. They struggle to understand whether websites are trustworthy, to distinguish advertising from information, with online meeting and conversation etiquette, and with content creation. This applies to both girls and boys, although some gender differences were observed depending on the skill examined. The problems identified could lead to negative outcomes in using technologies in youth’s learning and other everyday activities. While individual skills training offers part of the solution, designing platforms and algorithms in ways that are suitable for the cognitive development and literacy of youth is also important.