Introduction

This chapter opens with some consideration of how modern social media technologies have changed the terrain of identity development for young people coming of age in the algorithmic era. With particular attention to social media’s tendencies towards personalisation and polarisation, the chapter discusses how teenagers in Aotearoa New Zealand find themselves oriented within a globally networked socio-political milieu characterised by culture wars and post-truth politics. Given this context, the chapter then introduces the original research project documented in this book, which explored the developing (political) identities of New Zealanders aged 16 to 18 negotiating adolescence online. This research offers significant contributions to a number of areas, including research into the affective politics of digital media, youth identity development online, and the political theory of recognition. The chapter further offers an outline of the book, through analysis of recognition theory, development of a recognition theory-informed methodology, and original empirical research exploring the multiple dimensions of political identity formation in the age of social media.