Digital Literacy: a Critical Tool for Adolescents
“It seems America’s attitude toward the Internet is conflicted: More than half of respondents (59%) admitted they find the Internet overwhelming; yet, 68% of survey takers said they “can’t live without it.” (Rasmussen College).
Even though this statement might be accurate, in the education field digital media is used constantly being used as a vital role in our student’s cognitive abilities to learn and obtain information. Perhaps the younger generation is becoming increasingly more literate when it comes to digital media, but there are still many adolescents that are unaware of the consequences and authority pertaining to various medias. Adolescents should critically use digital media in ways that promote self-expression and embodies their individual identities, while also recognizing the faulty and powerful aspects of digital media.
We may know “what” the students are engaging in but we as educators need to understand more about the “why” and the “how” teens are engaging with social media. The recognition of power of social media might provide a platform for individuals that might cause some to inflict shame, while for others it may do just the opposite and boost the confidence within themselves, acting as a platform to express themselves. As adolescents are actively exposed and utilize media in both the schools and outside, we must educate them on how to critique and analyze the media source. But as Buckingham clearly states,
“In the context of media education, the aim is not primarily to develop technological skills, or to promote ‘self-expression’, but to encourage a more systematic understanding of how media operates, and hence to promote more reflective ways of using them.” (Buckingham 50).
Due to the lack of understanding of how technology works, digital literacy in this age is severely limited in its aspects of developing a logical and factual resource of students to use (Warner 156).
By teaching students exactly what confirmation bias and an echo chamber is, adolescents will be able to expand and develop an understanding of what a digital literate student encompasses. In this world, were anybody with access can create, share both information and opinions, this makes this trait increasingly more important for students to be able to access the creditably of sources and to also take a deeper look at the underlying motivations and bias of the author or editor (Peachey). Developing literacy skills will mold them into productive effective researchers and resourceful producers of digital content themselves. Looking at our students as passive recipients instead of just consumers of the media, will help to shape active and responsible citizens of the learning community, helping them to develop digital literacy skills that they will use not only in the present day but also in the years to come.
As students flourish in this world of digital media, they have rather been taught or have self-taught how to navigate digital technology, and because of this we need to encourage students to express to them that it is okay to ask questions. The more questions that one asks displays their intelligence in evaluating and critiquing media, and that leads to retaining a deeper understanding. By showing them how to search efficiently, recognize authoritative form non-authoritative, and how to compare from a range of sources, they will become digitally literate citizens (Buckingham 46). In the TED Talk below, given by Andrea Quijada, explains how critical it is for students to have deconstruction questions in the daily intake of medias.
I believe that adolescents should pressed to critically consider and address their personal online behaviors and ask themselves if they are constantly engaging in bias and inappropriate involvement of information, could it be possible that many other of the medias they are reading and obtaining information from are biased and/or faulty.
Asking questions and acting as detectives is how to realize what information is true, false, irrelevant, relevant, biased, or unbiased, creating gateways to reject and discount “fake news” and create real news that will educate the future generations. By doing this, this younger generation will also be able to create platforms that will not only accurately educate others but will encourage self-expression without disregarding the opinions of others. As quoted from Carlos Wallace, “if I doubt your intentions I will never trust your actions” (Wallace).
Bibliography:
Andrea Quijada. (2013, February 19). “Creating critical thinkers through media literacy: Andrea Quijada at TEDxABQED”. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAApvHZ6XE
Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital Media Literacies: rethinking media education in the age of the Internet. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2(1), 43–55.
“Digital Literacy in 2015: America’s Complicated Relationship with the Internet.” (2015). Retrieved October 21, 2018, from https://www.rasmussen.edu/resources/digital-literacy- in-america/
Peachey, N. (2016). “Thinking Critically through Digital Media”. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://peacheypublications.com/books/thinking-critically-through-digital-media
Warner, J. (2017). “Adolescents New Literacies with and through Mobile Phones”. Peter Lang International Academic Publishers.
