This article examines how Filipino youth experience digital life through the lens of digital precarity, understood as structurally produced instability, unequal opportunity, and patterned exposure to harm in platformed environments. Drawing on a thematic synthesis of Philippine-based scholarly and institutional literature published between 2012 and 2024, the study consolidates ten topical domains into three analytic dimensions. Visibilities of presence examine who becomes visible online and under what social and material conditions. Voices of participation analyse whose expressions circulate and gain recognition within platform systems. Vulnerabilities of precarity trace how infrastructural fragility, uneven digital literacies, emotional strain, and differential recognition translate into recurring harms. The article advances a Philippines-grounded framework that situates youth digital life within Global South inequalities and Southeast Asia's regional digital ecosystem. Rather than treating youth as uniformly empowered ‘digital natives’, the study shows how visibility, voice, and vulnerability are shaped by class, region, institutional support, and platform governance.
Abella-ZataG (2021) Digitalization in the Social Media Capital of the World. Washington, DC: Cabot Consultants.
2.
AgojoKNMBravoMFJReyesJAC, et al. (2023) Activism beyond the streets: examining social media usage and youth activism in the Philippines. Asian Journal of Social Science51(3): 180–187.
3.
ArintoPB (2016) Issues and challenges in open and distance e-learning: perspectives from the Philippines. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning17: 162–180.
4.
AroraP (2019) The Next Billion Users: Digital Life Beyond the West. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
5.
BarbersRAS (2023) House Bill No. 7396: An Act Promoting the Development and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in the Philippines. Quezon City: House of Representatives of the Philippines.
6.
BaronG (2021) Filipino Youth are Vulnerable to Fake News, Misinformation. Manila: Manila Bulletin.
7.
BaylenDMArellanoE (2018) Technology-based experiences of young people: Opportunities for Filipino educators. TCC 2018 Conference Papers.
8.
BourdieuP (1986) The forms of capital. In: RichardsonJ (ed) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 241–258.
9.
BraunVClarkeV (2021) One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology18(3): 328–352.
10.
BrighentiA (2007) Visibility: a category for the social sciences: a category for the social sciences. Current Sociology55(3): 323–342.
11.
BrighentiA (2010) Visibility in Social Theory and Social Research. London: Springer.
12.
BrighentiA (2017) The visible: element of the social. Frontiers in Sociology2: 17.
13.
BristolNMCaroJADMangalimanCC, et al. (2016) The digital media consumption, dependency and its self-perceived effects on familial and peer interpersonal relationships of the Filipino youth. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research4(1): 91–98.
14.
BrownB (2012) Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. Sheridan, WY: Gotham Books.
15.
BucherT (2018) If…Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16.
ButlerJ (2009) Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?London: Verso.
17.
CalaraAN (2020) Millennials in the Information Age: Disjuncture Amidst Technological Innovations. Manila: Asia-Pacific Social Science Review.
18.
CiabalLU (2021) Connect or disconnect: impact of mobile phone engagement to family relationship among youth. In: 2nd International Conference on Multidisciplinary Industry and Academic Research 2021, Candelaria, Philippines, July 2021. Institute of Industry and Academic Research Incorporated, 30.
19.
CleofasJVLabayoCC (2024) Youth Netizens as Global Citizens: Digital Citizenship and Global Competence among Undergraduate Students. Lausanne: Frontiers.
20.
CouldryNMejiasUA (2019) The Costs of Connection: How Data is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating it for Capitalism. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
21.
DahlbergL (2018) Visibility and the public sphere: a normative conceptualisation. Javnost - The Public25(1–2): 35–42.
22.
DavidCC (2013) ICTs in political engagement among youth in the Philippines. International Communication Gazette75(3): 322–337.
23.
Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology (DOST-ICT) (2016) Philippine Digital Strategy 2011–2016. Philippines: DICT.
24.
DiMaggioPHargittaiE (2001) From the ‘Digital Divide’ to ‘Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use as Penetration Increases. Princeton: Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University.
25.
DiolaGOOmañaEF (2024) The role of digital technology in shaping learning styles among Filipino students. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications7(2): 48–52.
26.
EspinosaAAGomezCAPraksisMA, et al. (2023) Technology in Education: A Case Study on the Philippines. Paris, France: UNESCO.
27.
FinemanMA (2008) The vulnerable subject: anchoring equality in the human condition. Yale Journal of Law & Feminism20(1): 1–23.
28.
FurlongA (2012) Youth Studies: An Introduction. 1st ed.London: Routledge.
29.
GalveJMLabioR (2023) Information and communications technology skills and digital literacy of senior high school students. Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal.
30.
GepilaECBillosoPBDomingoKMA, et al. (2021) Reading brain in the digital age: an experience of Philippine high school. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences10(4): 569–575.
31.
GiddensA (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
32.
GillespieT (2010) The politics of ‘platforms’. New Media & Society12(3): 347–364.
33.
GillespieT (2018) Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions that Shape Social Media. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
34.
GirayLNemeñoJBraganazaJ, et al. (2024) A survey on digital device engagement, digital stress, and coping strategies among college students in the Philippines. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth.
35.
IgnatiusJSHechanovaMR (2014) Internet usage from a generational perspective. Philippine Journal of Psychology47: 1–1.
36.
JanssonJ (2019) The online forum as a digital space of curation. Geoforum; Journal of Physical, Human, and Regional Geosciences106: 115–124.
37.
JenkinsH (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
38.
Kepios (2023) Digital around the world. DataReportal - Global Digital Insights.
39.
KilagOKT (2024) Filipino youth for stronger future of the new Philippines. International Multidisciplinary Journal of Research for Innovation, Sustainability, and Excellence (IMJRISE)1(6): 109–118.
40.
KobayashiVLavidesMMTiangcoC, et al. (2024) Understanding Pakikipagkapwa Through Analytics: Exploring Filipino Relational Communication in Online Spaces. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS).
41.
LimM (2017) Freedom to hate: social media, algorithmic enclaves, and the rise of tribal nationalism in Indonesia. Critical Asian Studies49: 411–427.
42.
LivingstoneSHaddonL (2009) EU Kids Online: Final report. LSE, London: EU Kids Online. (EC Safer Internet Plus Programme Deliverable D6.5).
43.
LopezACuarterosK (2020) Exploring the effects of social media on interpersonal communication among family members. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth12(1): 66–80.
44.
LorenzanaJASorianoCRR (2021) Introduction: the dynamics of digital communication in the Philippines: legacies and potentials. Media International Australia179(1): 3–8.
45.
LoreyI (2015) State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious (Aileen Derieg, Trans.). London; New York: Verso.
46.
MarcaidaM (2020) Student activism offline and online: a mixed-methods study on college students’ protest participation in the Philippines. Philippine Social Science Review72: 22.
47.
MilanSTreréE (2019) Big data from the south(s): beyond data universalism. Television & New Media20(4): 319–335.
48.
Motte-MuñozH (2020) Empowering Filipino youth through technology and community. In: PanthBMacleanR (eds) Anticipating and Preparing for Emerging Skills and Jobs. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects. Vol. 55.Singapore: Springer, 247–254.
49.
MyovellaGKaracukaMHaucapJ (2021) Determinants of digitalization and digital divide in Sub-Saharan African economies: a spatial Durbin analysis. Telecommunications Policy45(10). DOI:10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102224.
50.
NuncioRV (2019) The state of youth internet studies in the Philippines: implications for future research and policy studies. In: LeeRMaraanC (eds) Revving up Research Innovations for Social Development. Manila: De La Salle University Publishing House, 273–307.
51.
ParksL (2015) “Stuff you can kick”: toward a theory of media infrastructures. In: SvenssonPGoldbergDT (eds) Between Humanities and the Digital. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 355–373.
52.
PedrozoS (2013) New media use in Brazil: digital inclusion or digital divide?. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies3(1): 144–162.
53.
Precarity Lab (2019) Digital precarity manifesto. Social Text37(4 (141)): 77–93.
54.
QuimbaFMACalizoSJC (2018) “Going digital: from innovation to inclusive growth in the Philippines,” Discussion Papers DP 2018-19, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
55.
RamosM (2008) Addressing the digital divide in rural areas of the Philippines. The UP Forum9(2): 7–16.
56.
RobertsTHernandezK (2019) Digital Access, Inclusion and Inequalities: A Global South Perspective. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.
57.
SchneiderFGoto-JonesC (2015) Where is digital Asia?Asiascape: Digital Asia2: 5–10.
58.
StandingG (2011) The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
59.
TavoryITimmermansS (2014) Abductive Analysis: Theorizing Qualitative Research (TimmermansS, ed). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 53.
60.
TreceñeJKD (2021) The digital transformation strategies of the Philippines from 1992 to 2022: a review. Engineering & Technology Review2: 8–13.
61.
TrucanoM (2010) The Second Digital Divide. Washington, DC: EduTech: A World Bank blog on ICT Use in Education.
62.
TurnerBS (2006) Vulnerability and Human Rights. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.
63.
Uy-TiocoCSCabañesJVA (2021) Glocal intimacies and the contradictions of mobile media access in the Philippines. Media International Australia179(1): 9–22.
64.
van DijckJ (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
65.
van DijckJPoellTde WaalM (2018) The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
66.
VillaseñorR (2024) The public service digitalization in the Philippines towards a national program to capacitate digital frontliners. Journal of Public Administration and Governance14(2).
67.
VyhmeisterSVyhmeisterR (2012) The digital divide after 20 years: a rural Philippine perspective. International Forum15(2): 5–15.
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
