Young People and Digital Consumption: Profiles and Empirical Pathways in the Algorithmic Age

Abstract

This paper offers an integrated perspective on youth digital consumption by examining how access, usage patterns, digital skills, and algorithmic awareness intersect to shape differentiated experiences on YouTube and TikTok. Anchored in a theoretical framework that views digital consumption as a space where access, competence, and critical reflexivity toward algorithmic processes converge, the research draws on a sample of 449 young adults residing in Campania and Lombardy. Using quantitative multi-analitycal strategy — including typological modeling, multiple correspondence analysis, and structural equation modeling — the study investigates how usage intensity, digital skills, and algorithmic awareness generate unequal configurations of epistemic agency. Findings indicate that frequent platform use alone does not ensure critical engagement; rather, the quality of digital competencies emerges as the key driver in fostering algorithmic awareness. By identifying eight distinct digital profiles, the study contributes also to mapping emerging forms of social stratification within the algorithmically shaped digital environment.