Adolescents and Critical Digital Literacy: Interpretation, Application, and Interrogation

In an age of ever-evolving mediums of digital media, there is a necessity to be critically literate in an area that is littered with questionable information. That is, how can adolescents be able to distinguish between what is authentic versus artificial? The solution to this question is certainly not simple nor finite. What it is, however, is a universal starting point for all adolescents to use as a foundation of how they may approach, interpret, and understand different forms of digital media. These forms can be grouped singularly as New Media Literacy. The focus is that it is not enough to be able “read and write” in the digital sphere, but it is essential to gain the skills required to be skeptics and critics of every piece of information that finds itself in the hands of adolescents.

According to Lin, et. al., the current form of digital media that exists is labeled “new media”, and it requires New Media Literacy (NML). The idea of NML outlines a quadrant of four different levels of literacy that are: functional consuming, critical consuming, functional prosuming, and critical prosuming. Each level has its respective definition, but the two in focus are critical consuming (CC) and critical prosuming (CP). “CC involves abilities to interpret the media content within specific social, economic, political and cultural contexts; CP underlines individuals’ contextual interpretation of the media content during their participation activities” (Lin, et. al. 162). As this article outlines, the critical element plays a role in interpretation. That is, to the question, adolescents should critically think about digital media by means of their interpretations of multiple forms of text. Being able to interpret information is essential to critically thinking through digital media — the beginning of adolescents’ ability to critically use digital media. Interpretation, however, is just that: only the beginning. What is as equally important is how adolescents choose and are able to practice their interpretations to use digital media.

After interpretation comes application. Once an adolescent has appropriately interpreted the information as critically as possible, it is now time for them to take that critical approach and apply it to the information that allows them to use it in effective, beneficial ways. Application is required because adolescent literacy “transcends language arts,” and it “emphasizes the wide range of literacy practices that adolescents engage, especially their use of non-print electronic texts” (Rycik 64). This application finds itself especially relevant when students find themselves in the world-wide connectional realm of social media that requires “transcultural and transnational context and conditions” (Bean 669). Again, to the question of topic — how adolescents should critically use digital media — they must be able to obtain the skill of interpretation in order to carry out the imperative of application in such an ever-changing digital scope.

To place these concepts in context, an example would be corporate incorporation in digital spaces. Specifically, advertising to adolescents. Warner’s chapter eight, “Critical Digital Literacies,” provides a more than relevant example: “Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat have monetized their sites by incorporating advertisements into the sites. The advertisements take the form of what look like normal posts and can easily be mistaken for organic social content. On Instagram, advertisements are only differentiated from social content by the small word “sponsored” where a post’s timestamp normally appears” (146–147). What is important to note in terms of critical interpretation is the subtlety located sponsored. It is one thing to recognize this nuance from other posts, but to realize how it affects the meaning of the post, the audience, and the potential implications is another. For adolescents, they must be able to discern that this is a strategy of commerce that is constantly found in new media literacy:

In a world of digital media being the most prominent media, it is crucial that adolescents separate what is authentic versus artificial. This is not simply limited to what is “real” or “fake,” but also what is garnered or intentionally placed. There is much speculation as to how ads make their way into social media feeds. How they get there is not as important as how they are understood, interpreted, and their implications implied once they are there. This entire process is exactly how adolescents should be critically literate when it comes to digital media. Following this example, questions for all adolescents to consider are: how did this information get here? Why is this information being presented to me? And finally, what should be considered about this information?

Connor Mann

Course Resources:

Warner, J. (2017). Adolescents’ New Literacies with and through Mobile Phones. Digital Mobile Composing, 143–159. doi:10.3726/b11221

Outside Resources:

Bean, T., & Dunkerly, J. (2012). Adolescent Literacy: Looking Back and Moving Forward in the Global Flow. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(8), 669–670. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/41827767

Rycik, J. (2008). A Decade of Adolescent Literacy. American Secondary Education, 37(1), 62-64. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/41406131

Tzu-Bin Lin, Jen-Yi Li, Feng Deng, & Ling Lee. (2013). Understanding New Media Literacy: An Explorative Theoretical Framework. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(4), 160–170. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/jeductechsoci.16.4.160

Website Central Pty Ltd. (2015, July 06). Retrieved October 20, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LSol7zvkGI