As I observe the transformation of Egypt’s cultural landscape in recent years, I find a phenomenon that can no longer be overlooked. Young people are not only consumers of content; they have become its producers and active participants in shaping it. The digital space has evolved into a parallel world to the real one, where identity, belonging, and language are continually reconstructed. From my position at the Academy of Arts under the Ministry of Culture, where my work centres on literature, translation, and cultural formation, I see this shift as a challenge that compels us to reconsider how the state can employ the digital space in its plan to communicate with the rising generations, not only as a matter of media strategy, but as an integrated educational and cultural project that elevates the quality of education and cultivates critical awareness.
The latest DataReportal report for 2026 indicates that the number of internet users in Egypt reached 98.2 million in 2025, representing a penetration rate of 82.7% of the population. Social media users numbered 51.6 million, equivalent to 43.4% of the total population. These figures, drawn from analyses by Kepios in collaboration with We Are Social, reveal a reality we cannot ignore. Young people are the most prominent presence in this space and the most exposed to its influences, both as consumers and as content producers. A survey conducted by the Information and Decision Support Center of the Cabinet further shows that 27% of young people spend six hours or more online daily. In comparison, 52.8% use the internet to search for employment opportunities. Such indicators make digital engagement with youth a strategic necessity rather than a discretionary leisure activity.
Academic studies addressing this issue underscore the importance of selecting the appropriate communication strategy. A field study involving 455 Egyptian youth who follow government accounts on social media platforms, whose findings were published in the Mandumah databases, demonstrated that a “bridging” strategy, grounded in building genuine relationships and integrating citizens into dialogue and decision-making processes, strengthens perceptions of open-government principles and stimulates the various dimensions of active citizenship. By contrast, a “buffering” strategy focused primarily on image management and justifying decisions had a negative effect. These results remind us that young people are not seeking dry official statements, but rather accessible language, interactive content, and a genuine sense of participation.
The Egyptian state has launched ambitious initiatives in this direction. The “Digital Egypt Generations” framework of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology successfully trained approximately 277,000 participants in 2025, more than 156,000 of them in that year alone. The framework comprises four pathways: “Digital Egypt Sprouts” for primary-school pupils, “Digital Egypt Cubs” for preparatory and secondary students, “Digital Egypt Pioneers” for university students and graduates, and “Digital Egypt Builders” for distinguished specialists. Creative digital creativity hubs have been established across the country, and the Digitopia competition has been launched with prizes reaching millions of pounds to identify talent in software, artificial intelligence, and digital arts. The National Media Authority has likewise begun to redefine its role to attract younger audiences through digital platforms and contemporary language, with an emphasis on short-form and interactive content.
Yet these efforts, significant as they are, require deeper integration with the broader goal of raising the efficiency of the educational system. Digital literacy should not remain an optional or seasonal programme; it must be embedded in the curriculum from the foundational stages of schooling. Parliament has made serious calls to include a “Digital Citizenship” subject in the basic education curriculum, covering safe internet use, digital etiquette, confronting rumours, cyberbullying, and online extortion, while cultivating critical thinking skills. It is here that cultural and academic institutions, including the Academy of Arts, have a vital role to play in shaping educational content that unites technical competence with cultural values, and that teaches young people how to express Egyptian identity and transmit it into authentic digital content, rather than merely consuming what arrives from beyond our borders.
Language itself constitutes the essential bridge. Drawing on my experience in translation and literature, I am convinced that we require a discourse that reconciles depth with simplicity, and formal dignity with proximity to the language of youth. National values must be translated into short narratives, interactive videos, and visually compelling content without sacrificing their essence. We must also encourage young people to become producers rather than mere consumers, and to connect their digital skills with freelance opportunities and the creative economy — an objective that the Ministry of Communications’ freelancing initiatives have already begun to realise in practice.
Challenges remain: a gap between official content and young people’s interests; limited genuine interaction on many government accounts that publish without listening; and the absence of a unified national digital communication strategy linking ministries with cultural and educational institutions. Yet the opportunity is greater still. If we succeed in making engagement with the new generations an integral part of an educational and cultural project that elevates the quality of education and instils critical awareness, we will be forming a generation capable of confronting the challenges of the digital sphere with both responsibility and freedom.
In the end, I believe that the success of strategies for communicating with youth depends on our capacity to listen more than we speak, and to build genuine bridges rather than digital walls. This is what I strive to instil through my academic and cultural work: that digital culture offers an opportunity to construct an authentic critical consciousness, not merely a form of fleeting entertainment.
Prof. Inas Abd El Khalek, Dean of the High Institute of Art and Literary Translation, Academy of Arts
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