Youth worker in the new media era

This article discusses ways of working with young people in the New Media era. The extensive usage of internet by young people impacts as well the youth work practice. Basing on the qualitative interviews with youth workers, and focus groups with young people, we present opinions of youth workers on the influence of new technologies on their work. After defining the term "youth worker" as used in Poland, the article describes the Internet usage of young people. The results reveal the ambivalent evaluation of the usage of new technologies in youth work - youth workers indicate many advantages but also negative sides of extensive usage of new media. As some respondents suggest, the new role of youth work today would be to anchor young people - who are so strongly embedded in the virtual life - inreality.