Adolescence and computers. Dimensions of media‐related identity formation,self‐formation and religious value as challenges for religious education

Computers play an important role in adolescent youth culture. This adolescent use of computers has much deeper implications than simply developing specific technical skills. Focusing on the relation between adolescent subjects and computers reveals three issues of particular interest: individual identity formation, self‐formation and ‘fluid’ forms of religion. The following is an overview of the main dimensions of these issues and their implications for religious education. All the results presented are related to a larger qualitative empirical research project on adolescents and computers. The final pedagogical conclusions in this paper are developed from a perspective of religious education within the Protestant tradition as it is practised within the German school system, but have wider implications.