Soft skills and digital citizenship in university students: challenges for integral education in the age of social networks
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Abstract
The sociotechnical transformations associated with the expansion of social networks have reshaped communication, learning, public participation, and identity construction among university students. In Latin American higher education, this process cannot be understood merely as an instrumental transition to digital platforms, but rather as a cultural shift that requires the articulation of soft skills, media literacy, critical thinking, and digital citizenship. The objective of this article is to critically analyze the relationship between soft skills and digital citizenship in university students, considering the challenges posed by integral education in the age of social networks. Methodologically, the study is based on a qualitative and documentary literature review of scientific publications and institutional reports published between 2021 and 2025, with emphasis on Latin American higher education. The analysis shows that university education faces a structural tension between the acquisition of technical skills for digital life and the development of ethical, communicative, collaborative, socioemotional, and critical capacities required for responsible participation in connected environments. It is concluded that soft skills and digital citizenship must be understood as interdependent dimensions of integral education, so that Latin American universities move beyond models centered on connectivity and operational mastery of tools toward transversal curricular proposals aimed at democratic deliberation, digital coexistence, socioemotional self-regulation, and public responsibility.
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