Why teaching digital literacy in schools is crucial

The internet is a place of opportunities and a place of challenges and risks alike. Teaching responsible use and online safety early on in schools has the ability to contain present threats. We thus need to examine the problem closely in order to design possible answers within the educational context.

According to findings from the pan-European study “EU Kids Online”, 9- to 16-year-olds spontaneously named as many as 41 different risks in connection to internet use. Pornography and violent content were listed most frequently. Further threats include unintended contacts with such or other aggressive content, becoming victim of online bullying and harassment, being contacted by strangers, personal data being misused or other negative web-contents like hate sites, self-harm sites or drug forums.

What is interesting though, is that perceiving risks does not automatically equal experiencing harm. In this sense, the cited study also reveals that many kids designated risks in their online usage, but comparatively few of them actually had experienced harm. It can be concluded that risk-aware youth develop strategies to avoid or overcome critical situations on the Internet. Even if young people with high digital skills tend to use more web-applications and consequently are exposed to more potential online risks, the awareness of problematic online situations and the capability of dealing with the risk reduces fear and worries of young Internet users. These findings emphasise the relevance of profound digital literacy.

In general, digital literacy is defined as the ability to (1) access, (2) understand, analyse and evaluate and (3) produce web content. Moreover, various studies show that capabilities in using Internet technology do not necessarily go along with high competency in handling problems and online harms. Therefore, a conscious distinction between different aspects of digital literacy is necessary when measuring competency or designing educational programmes.

Despite increasing awareness of the importance of digital literacy, educational programmes are still too often inadequate: They are lacking resources and their implementation is uneven. It is crucial to set up workshops and curricula that reach children and teenagers throughout all age groups and social strata. They should not only teach students about safety on a theoretical level, but digital literacy should become an integral part of everyday practices. Only this way, a gap between knowledge and actual behaviour can be prevented.

In conclusion, it remains to say that the more children use the Internet in a responsible way, the more digital skills they will acquire and eventually, the more benefits they are able to gain. Consequently, digital literacy does not only protect youth from harm, but also makes them reap maximum advantages from their online activities.

References

[1] Leung, L., & Lee, P.S.N. (2011): The influences of information literacy, internet addiction and parenting styles on internet risks. New Media & Society, 14 (1): 117-136.

[2] Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., & Olafsson, K. (2011): EU kids online: final report. EU Kids Online, London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK.

[3] Livingstone, S., Kirwil, L., Ponte, C., & Staksrud, E. (2013): In their own words: what bothers children online? with the EU Kids Online Network. EU Kids Online, London School of Economics & Political Science, London, UK.

[4] Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., Olafsson, K., & Haddon, L. (2014): Children’s online risks and opportunities: comparative findings from EU Kids Online and Net Children Go Mobile.

[5] Mascheroni, G., & Cuman, A. (2014): Net Children Go Mobile. Final report. Deliverables D6.4 & D5.2. Milano: Educatt.

[6] Vandoninck, S., d’Haenens, L., & Smahel, D. (2014): Preventive measures – how youngsters avoid online risks. Available: http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20III/Reports/Preventivemeasures.pdf