Welfare Service Providers’ Narratives of Digital Literacies Among Vulnerable Youths in Norway

Abstract The rapid digital transformation of society has intensified the need to develop general digital competence in the population, as it has become an essential requirement for participating in education, civil society, and the workforce. Digital competence has also become vital for benefiting from digitalized welfare services in rapidly digitalized societies such as Norway. Though the majority of citizens benefit from the increased accessibility and effectivity of the public sector as the result of digitalization, some life situations increase vulnerabilities in accessing welfare services. In this paper, we explore how the welfare service providers of youths not in education, employment, or training narrate the digital literacy of this group of youths. Drawing from an ecological and intersectional perspective on socio-digital inequalities, this paper operates under the premise that these service providers bear the responsibility of disrupting the cycle of socio-digital inequalities that youths might experience. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study conducted through seven individual and group interviews and two workshops with 20 welfare service providers. The findings shed light on how welfare service providers navigate the uncertainty surrounding the concept of digital literacy which is further challenged by the absence of guidelines—a lack that may inadvertently lead to new forms of exclusion and invisibility among youths.