PELO CELULAR E PELAS RUAS DE SALVADOR: participação política de jovens e a relação com as competências infocomunicacionais

Abstract

For almost a decade, demonstrations and protests have grown in the Brazilian political landscape, supported by digital environments and media. Through optical fibers and avenues, the population, especially youth, began to increasingly engage in public debate, suggesting an expansion of democracy. However, the scenario that was unfolding soon met a growing anti-political movement, guided by authoritarian discourses, encouraging researchers in the field of Communication to understand, even more, the role of digital media in this process. Focusing on the knowledge, competences, skills, and attitudes that emerge in the digital age, in this thesis, we chose to investigate whether there is a relationship between infocommunicational competences and the political participation of young people from Salvador, aged 18 to 29, in policy. We aim to understand how the youth use digital technologies, how often, for what purpose, among other issues. Regarding politics, the present research focus on the use of these technologies as means of accessing information and talking about the subject, with the intention of observing how young people act politically and in what way. In addition, we asked about the perception of young people about their own infocommunication competences: how they deal with the information they access, produce, and disseminate on the network; how they dialogue in digital environments, how they evaluate fake news etc. 42 questions were sent to young people from the capital of Bahia via websurvey, after validation by the Research Ethics Committee. In addition to the responses of 280 participants living in different neighborhoods of Salvador (112 of the city's neighborhoods i.e., 65.8% in all of 170), we conducted, as a qualitative step, semi-structured interviews with 10 young people, with the main objective of our research to investigate the relationship between infocommunicational competences and political participation (on-line and off-line) of young people from Salvador who are interested in politics. Our specific objectives are: 1. Check the perception of young people regarding infocommunication competences; 2. Compare patterns of political participation (on-line and off-line). The analysis of the data and information collected involved statistical techniques (descriptive, factorial, and correlational), in addition to content analysis, interpretation and inferences. As a result, concerning the first specific objective, we found that most of the interviewees feel more apt in terms of information competences than in terms of communication competences. Young people produce little authorial content and ‘surf’ by cell phone. Regarding the second specific objective, we identified that most participants have an elevated level of interest and a feeling of political effectiveness; the internet is a source of information on the subject and stands out as a socializing agent, while the family, for example, has less space in this regard. We also observed that young people prefer to stay away from traditional political institutions, preferring to act via non-institutionalized and on-line ways. To achieve the main objective of the thesis, we also used the linear regression model and found a positive and statistically significant association between infocommunication competences and political participation (2018 and 2020) of respondents. We conclude that the competences to inform and communicate for political purposes can be developed and strengthened, but they need a continuous strengthening of criticality and commitment to democracy.