How Should Adolescents Critically Use Digital Media?
Since the rise of technology in the 21st-century, adolescents are growing up with digital media as a core part of their lives; as a result, they need to be more critically literate about not only what they view, but what they post. While digital media has many benefits, it also has many consequences. Adolescents need to question everything they see to eliminate some of the dangers associated with the consumption of digital media. Government organizations may be able to help, but ultimately it is up to the adolescent to be critically literate. Companies try to shape the beliefs of adolescents for their own benefit, but through the use of critical literacy, they can be stopped.
The video brings up a way of thinking that should always go along with the use of digital media: being skeptical (Brainpop 2017). Many adolescents and adults alike have heard the phrase “don’t believe everything you read on the internet,” but sadly, this phrase seems to fall on deaf ears. Adolescents must learn to be skeptical about everything they read and begin to ask themselves questions; such as, “why is this person post this? or “should I believe what this person is posting?”
The dangers from lack of critical literacy with digital media are very present. According to Laura Spilsbury, a writer for Brigham Young University, 82 percent of middle school students couldn’t tell the difference between sponsored articles and real news stories” (Spilsbury, 2018). This is a dangerous reality we live in. If young adolescents cannot identify real news from fake news, I wonder what dangerous ideas they could be persuaded to believe?
While the dangers from lack of critical literacy are ever present, some safety measures are beginning to take action. According to Buckingham, “the European Commission’s ‘Safer Internet Action Plan’ has emphasized the importance of Internet literacy as a means for children to protect themselves against harmful content” (Buckingham, 2007 [pp. 46]). The fact that a large government organization understands the importance of critical literacy is crucial to the safety of adolescents. Adolescents need to be aware of the dangers that exist and learn to become critically literate with what they see.
Another danger that arises from the lack of digital literacy is associated with the construction of adolescents’ identities. Warner writes, “When youth use the words from the “mouths” of corporations to construct their identities, they come to define themselves as consumers”(Warner 2017 pp. 157). Adolescents defining themselves as consumers is a dangerous concept. Basically, companies are realizing that they can control adolescents. Companies provide content for adolescents who do not realize the companies are providing the content. The content shapes the adolescents’ personalities and the company is free to take advantage of the adolescents for financial gain, or really whatever motive they have.
Issie Lapowski, a writer for Inc.com, describes the phenomenon when she writes, “[adolescents] have always been important to brands because they tend to be early adopters and because, traditionally, their brand preferences aren’t yet firmly defined” (Lapowski 2014). What she is saying is that adolescents do not yet have brands or products that they prefer yet and therefore it is important for companies to persuade them into adopting them as their preferred brand for a specific product. What better way is there to persuade an adolescent than to do it without them even knowing about it?
Required Readings
Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital media literacies: Rethinking media education in the age of the internet. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2(1), pp. 46.
Warner, J. (2017). Critical digital literacies. In Adolescents’ new literacies with and through mobile phones (pp. 157). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
Outside Resources
BrainPop. (2017, August 24). MEDIA LITERACY [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQMSKRrDjB4
Lapowski, Issie. (2014, March 3). Why Teens are the Most Elusive and Valuable Customers in Tech. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/issie-lapowsky/inside-massive-tech-land-grab-teenagers.html
Spilsbury, Laura. (2018, February 9). Studies Show Lack of Media Literacy in Students has Negative Impact. Retrieved from https://universe.byu.edu/2018/02/09/studies-show-lack-media-literacy-students-negative-impact/
