Teaching youths on savvy usage of media

WE live in a connected world in which media and technological advances have massively changed our lives. New technologies offer a range of opportunities and benefits that allow us to easily look at, create and share information, and maintain social contacts.

While we exploit these technologies, we also need to continuously assess them because new media also presents challenges and possible dangers.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (2020), 71% of the world’s youths are now online. Every day, people watch more than one billion hours of video on YouTube, and almost two billion use Facebook often as a primary source of news and information about the world.

While the proliferation of digital technologies has been enriching for many, it has also given way to massive disinformation and harmful content that are very damaging to the well-being and civic participation of youths.

Educating children on responsible media use is long overdue. This is expected because technologies are advancing faster than governments and societal institutions can keep up.

Authorities like the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission have stepped up their efforts to curb the spread of fake news. Early this year, Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said the era of digitisation now allows information to be easily manipulated by parties with malicious intent, particularly information disseminated in social media.

A KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation) study in 2010 warned that it is imperative for educators and parents as well as policy makers to consider the relationship between media and young users.

In such an environment, media literacy – the ability to use, understand, and create media content in a variety of contexts – is increasingly being accepted as a fundamental skill.

Drawing from thousands of media research studies, author W. James Potter, who focuses on media literacy and media violence, concluded that being able to perform in all dimensions of media literacy is an asset in modern societies and economies.

Media literacy emphasises critical thinking skills that enable consumers to develop independent judgements about media content. Children and youth who are media literate are better able to comprehend and evaluate media for bias and accuracy, as well as gain more knowledge and awareness of the influence of media.

There are several ways to inculcate media literacy into classrooms in Malaysia. An interdisciplinary approach can be adopted in schools by incorporating projects concentrating on media literacy across various subjects.

Teachers play a critical role in helping to ensure that students leave school with the skills needed to not only be critical consumers of media, but also thoughtful and knowledgeable producers of mediated messages.

But in order to encourage students’ critical thinking about media, teachers also need to be informed and educated about media literacy.

WONG LAI CHENG

Media and Information Literacy for ASEAN Network,

Penang