International Youth Day: “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”

International Youth Day is a United Nations designated awareness day observed annually on August 12th. It is celebrated to highlight issues that youth face worldwide, as well as the many contributions young people have to offer.

The International Youth Day theme for 2024 is “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”. Technology is described as a “young industry” due to its ever-changing nature (Bannon, 2019). However, 71% of young people in the sector say that they feel uncomfortable at work due to factors like gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background, or neurodiversity (Templeton, 2023).

Young people are frequently underestimated, which can cause a lack of motivation to complete tasks or ask questions necessary in the workforce. A study published in the “Journal of Adolescent Research” found that when young people feel underestimated because of their age, their engagement and performance in educational things can significantly decline (Knoll et al., 2017).

International Youth Day creates space to support the ideas provided by young people and give them space to be heard. Young people are staple figures in bettering the world they live in and supporting their ideas is key to creating a better future.

References

Bannon, M. T. (2019, April 10). The biggest bias in tech that no one talks about. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ marenbannon/2019/04/10/the-biggest-bias-in-tech-that-no-one-talks-about/

Templeton. (2023, September 22). The Future of Tech: Investing in a Diverse and Young Workforce. Templeton. https://www.templetonrecruitment.com/
tech-news/the-future-of-tech-investing-in-a-diverse-and-young-workforce?hs_amp=true

Knoll, L. J., Leung, J. T., Foulkes, L., & Blakemore, S. (2017). Age‐related differences in social influence on risk perception depend on the direction of influence. Journal of Adolescence, 60(1), 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence. 2017.07.002