When “Protecting Yourself” Pushes Others Away: Mental Health and the Weakening of Social Bonds
In recent years, a new language has taken hold: “I’m protecting my mental health”, “I’m choosing myself”, “I’m cutting out toxic relationships”.
Lab · Civic space & debate
The New Agora Lab
The New Agora Lab is a debate space where young people worldwide confront their views, disagree, and argue, on the issues that matter to them. It is a circle where young people debate among themselves and build their own positions.
Further reading
Analyses written by YouthShare contributors, on the questions this lab works on.
It’s More Than a Hashtag: The Unfinished Business of Gender Equality
Real gender equality goes beyond trending hashtags. Explore how SDG 5 targets structural barriers like unpaid care work and economic disparity to ensure women everywhere can live, learn, and lead without limitation.
A Fair Future for All: Understanding and Addressing Social Inequality
Social inequality remains a defining challenge, crippling the opportunities of millions of young people based on their background rather than their talent (SDG 10). Data reveals deep divides in education, employment, and digital access, sustained by structural barriers. Addressing this requires systemic solutions like inclusive education and strong anti-discrimination frameworks to ensure a fair future for all.
Avenues to write about with this lab
Topics open to contributors, detailed on the research avenues page. Your own idea is welcome too.
See the avenues in detail- Debating when everyone has their own feed
- Is sortition the future of democracy?
- Voting at sixteen
- Climate civil disobedience
- Leaderless movements
- Committing for the long haul
- What boys learn online
- The neutrality of schools
- Laughter as a political weapon
- Debating everything, with everyone?
- The right to the city
- Repairing after political violence
Our approach
Organizing disagreement to make the most of it
The New Agora Lab welcomes the full range of youth positions. It organizes disagreement within a structured setting, so that different convictions meet and test each other. The debate itself is the outcome: it surfaces blind spots, sharpens arguments, and gives everyone the means to better understand other people’s positions.
Our method
For The New Agora Lab, YouthShare has studied
- Debate formats where everyone truly listens
- The issues that divide young people the most across countries and cultures
- Facilitation methods that let minority voices be heard
- How social media shapes polarization in youth debates
- The topics that remain hard to discuss openly, and why
Ways to act
How do we make a debate genuinely open?
The New Agora Lab works on several fronts at once: equal speaking time, clear rules for respectful disagreement, and honest documentation of the disagreements that remain once the debate ends.
Guaranteeing equal speaking time
Regardless of status, experience, or profile, every participant gets the same time to make their case.
Setting clear rules for respectful disagreement
An explicit framework distinguishing disagreeing with an idea from attacking a person, stated before every session.
Documenting disagreements as much as agreements
Every debate summary faithfully presents the remaining points of tension.
Making every debate accessible in several languages
Everyone concerned by a debate can take part in it, whatever their language.
2030 roadmap
Where we want to take this lab
A regular monthly debate, chosen by young people themselves
Move from one-off events to a stable rhythm, with topics proposed by the community.
A formalized, transferable facilitation method
Document the method so other facilitators, beyond the founding team, can lead sessions.
A permanent digital space for disagreement
Extend one-off sessions into a space where debate can continue between events.
Debates accessible in several languages
Make translation a condition of participation, built into every session from the start.
See the detail of our output on the What we do page
Every output of The New Agora Lab fits into one of YouthShare’s five forms of action.
Research, advocacy, mentorship, international dialogue, foresight: see how The New Agora Lab combines several of these forms of action, alongside the four other labs.
See What we doContacts
A topic to suggest for the next debate, an interest in facilitating a session, or simply a wish to join the lab? Write to us.
Join this labHow to contribute
- Propose a debate topic
- Volunteer to speak
- Help translate a session
- Become a debate facilitator
- Share a session summary with your network
- Join the debate preparation group