December 2024
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10 Reads
Teenagers in the United States spend over 8 hours on digital devices outside of schoolwork each day (Rideout et al. The Common Sense census: media use by tweens and teens. Common Sense Media, 2021), where they encounter information that ranges from educational to toxic. Despite their fluency with digital devices, young people struggle to evaluate the information that streams across their screens. There are evidence-based approaches for helping students to become more discerning consumers of digital content. Based on research with professional fact checkers, these interventions have been proven across a range of contexts to help people learn effective evaluation strategies. Unfortunately, outdated educational approaches to digital literacy remain widely used. As states across the country adopt legislation mandating media literacy instruction, a series of research questions deserve attention: (1) How can adults be supported to learn and teach digital literacy? (2) How do schools integrate digital literacy into the curriculum? (3) How do young people’s beliefs and identities influence their evaluations? (4) How do we reach people outside of school settings and how can trusted messengers (e.g., parents, health professionals, and community leaders) provide instruction about evidence-based strategies for evaluating online information?