Politically Engaged and/or Online Addicted? Assessing Youth Engagement with Digital Fluency and Addiction: A Comparative Study of Taiwan and Hong Kong

While online behaviors have flourished in youth studies, they have seldom been considered in relation to political behaviors. Using structural equation modeling, we examine whether digital fluency is associated with online political participation through political efficacy, and whether online addiction moderates these relationships among youths in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Political efficacy positively predicts online political participation, and mediates the relationship between digital fluency and participation. However, group analysis shows that among internet addicts in Taiwan, online political participation is driven primarily by digital fluency, with political efficacy negatively associated with participation. High levels of online addiction further strengthen this negative relationship, while weakening the positive effect of digital fluency on online political participation. No significant differences between addicts and non-addicts were found in Hong Kong, plausibly due to context-specific political dynamics. Implications for the civic consequences and considerations of digital education, and the landscape of digital-age participation, are discussed.