TERRITORY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: NEW VULNERABILITIES AND CONNECTED SOCIO-SPATIAL EXCLUSION

Abstract

This study investigates the complex metamorphosis of territory in the digital age, analyzing how physical borders merge with data flows to reconfigure the perception of place and social relations. Through a comparative analysis of students from different educational contexts, the research shows that the hybridization of space is a consolidated generational phenomenon, in which the physical and virtual dimensions have equivalent weight in daily life. However, the results demonstrate that digitization is not a neutral process, but a layer that frequently deepens pre-existing socio-spatial inequalities, manifesting itself as a connected exclusion. The text, in turn, discusses the transfer of sovereignty from the State to global platforms and the invisible control mechanisms that operate through algorithms, transforming space into a field of dispute between technological emancipation and corporate surveillance. It is concluded that contemporary spatial justice depends on the inseparable integration between physical infrastructure and digital ethics, reinforcing that isolated technical access is insufficient without the necessary critical literacy. The research highlights the urgency of a geographical education that empowers young people to navigate autonomously in this hybrid territory, where the right to the city now demands the guarantee of sovereignty over informational flows.