Characteristics and Challenges of Youth Identity in the Age of Social Media

With the rapid development of social media, the identity process of youth groups presents unprecedented complexity and dynamics. Social media not only provides youth with a platform for multicultural communication, self-expression and public participation, but also brings problems such as information overload, cognitive solidification, and conflict between virtual and real identities, which leads some youth into identity crisis. This paper focuses on the performance of youth identity crisis, crisis and its reconstruction path in the context of social media. The study concludes that social media is a catalyst for identity crisis and also an important space for reconstruction. Solving the crisis requires the concerted efforts of individuals, society and platforms, including improving media literacy, building healthy online communities and optimising algorithmic mechanisms. The research in this paper provides theoretical references and practical insights for the healthy socialisation of youth groups and cyberspace governance.