Media literacy needs to be taught, or it will be Gen Z’s downfall.
The digital natives, AKA the people born or brought up during the age of digital technology from an early age, are now in charge.
Not only does this mean that the first generation of digital children will be in control, but it also means that a group of people who understand the impact they can have will be able to use it to their advantage, even if it means harm, or bending the facts.
This is where media literacy comes into play.
Literacy rates in general are dropping, and although we are getting better about researching and source checking, I would argue that we need to continue advocating media literacy or it will lead to false movements and intentional misinformation will spread like wildfire.
I will admit, Gen Z is better than other generations at this, likely due to growing up around technology, but this understanding can vastly improve.
Even I, as a journalist, have fallen victim to media illiteracy.
Did you know Disney is lowering the drinking age to 18 in their parks?
Well, they’re not. When I initially read this, I thought, “Wow! What a great idea for marketing. That will make Disney the number one senior trip spot for sure.”
There were even super specific details about how they were able to do it and when they would start.
Then, because I know better than to believe one shocking fact right away, when I went to further research it, I found out it was a joke article from Mouse Trap News. Though, the weird part about it was that I saw it from a TikTok posted after the article.
I can’t be sure if it was because the TikTok poster believed what they had read online, heard it from a friend, or if they intentionally wanted to spread misinformation, but this is exactly the reason media literacy is important as new generations and technology advance together.
Especially now that technology is involved with everything we do; cooking, cleaning, writing, drawing, etc. We exist in a world of information and therefore a world of misinformation as well.
This may be a negative outlook, but there are people in the world who understand the digital impact they can have to spread any information they choose. That could be as hurtful as a deadly trend, to a seemingly harmless scam, to an uninformed social movement that could cause serious damage.
Knowing the partial truth is just as bad as not knowing at all. Without the media literacy to understand that you may not be getting the full picture from one source could be extremely harmful.
Even unintentionally, bias from certain sources can lead to information being left out to support their cause, business, or movement. Sometimes, contradicting information can be left out that could be a crucial point to not support the cause, business, or movement.
If we do become more media literate as a generation, I do believe that Gen Z can be the generation of change, largely due to their understanding of the digital era, but without it, we will only embarrass ourselves and continue spreading untrue information to generations to come.
