Beyond Screens and Likes: Exploring Friendship, Belonging, and Relational Understanding for Send Youth Across Digital and Offline Contexts

Abstract

As digital platforms become increasingly embedded within young people’s social lives, they have emerged as important spaces for friendship, identity development, and experiences of belonging. Despite this, educational and policy responses continue to prioritise online safety, risk management, and responsible technology use, often overlooking the relational dimensions of young people’s digital experiences. This presentation introduces a doctoral research project exploring how young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) navigate friendship, belonging, and social connection across digital and offline spaces. The research is particularly timely amid growing public and policy debates concerning young people’s access to social media and digital technologies, raising important questions about how relationships are formed, maintained, and experienced across increasingly interconnected social environments. Building on the Relational Media Literacy (RML) framework, an original conceptual model developed through the researcher’s master’s research, the project reconceptualises media literacy as a social, emotional, and relational practice rather than solely a technical or critical competency. Drawing on perspectives from inclusive education, digital sociology, and relational pedagogy, the study will employ a qualitative, multi-stakeholder methodology involving SEND young people, parents, and educators. By centring the lived experiences of SEND young people, the research aims to generate new insights into friendship, belonging, and social participation across digital and offline contexts, while contributing to the development of more inclusive approaches to media literacy, digital education, and youth policy.