Approaching Media Literacy in Civic Life among Urban Youth, 2021

"Given rapid technological advances "Young people today are reading, manipulating, and producing texts in ways that are fundamentally different than in the past" (Garcia, 2015). If we can acknowledge that having a core set of literacies extends into the digital space, we must then move to development of building competencies to enable critical media use. Further, research focused on the intersection of youth and media literacy assumes that "young people are not only interested and capable, but also have a right to be engaged with media given its dominant role in U.S. society" (Johnston-Goodstar, Richards-Schuster & Sethi, 2014). Increasing concern is being recognized as youth develop their identity amidst severe uncertainties ranging from the environmental crisis to political extremism. The implication is that, if the coming generation will be the main players shaping the digital future, it is crucial that they gain the competencies that will enable them to engage digital environments. Scholars are recognizing that without an educated, informed, and literate citizenry, strong democracy is impossible (Kellner & Share, 2007). This work explores the relationship between developing media competencies and civic identity. Given rapid changes to technology that have transformed norms, society requires a critical media literacy education to empower individuals to read and produce media messages to become strong participants in a democracy." -- Abstract