If you want to see today's youth squirm, then ask them to go media-free for 24 hours. The World Unplugged, a new global study of media and university students, by the International Center for Media & the Public Affairs, in partnership with the Salzberg Academy on Media & Global Change, confirmed that college students are "addicted" to their mp3 players, cell phones, social media, and other forms of digital technology.The study asked 1,000 college students from around the world (10 countries, 5 continents) to "abstain from using all media for a full day." After the 24 hours, students reported on their experience, and how successful they were in maintaining their media fast. Some of the discoveries from the study include:
- Students are definitely addicted to their media. They exhibit anxiety, cravings & other withdrawal symptoms when separated for a period of time.
- Students see digital technology as an essential extension of themselves & their main tool for connecting with friends.
- News finds students; they don't seek it out.
- Some students (about 20%) had very positive experiences away from media (connecting with friends and family, having time to think & reflect, slowing down, etc.).
This study has some great lessons for us as educators, parents, activists and concerned citizens, including:
- Students need help building mindfulness about their media use and its impact on them. We can help by modeling a message of moderate, thoughtful media use.
- Students need highly-developed media literacy and critical thinking skills, so that they can exert control and limits over their media, rather than allow it to control them, and to ensure that they can identify accurate, credible information.
- Technology isn't going away; it's a vital part of how students learn and communicate and needs to be integrated into their education in ways that are beneficial.
- The way students "ingest" news and information is changing, so if we want to reach them, we need to adapt and anticipate, both in content and format.
- Students need time unplugged from media (whether they want it or not). Building a sense of wonder and reverence for the natural world is an essential tool for freeing students from the media hive-mind and giving them time to think, reflect, breathe, and notice.
Image courtesy of paul_irish via Creative Commons.
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2 comments:
This is something I've thought a lot about, as a young person and an active user of media.
For many of us, social media is a support system that we simply do not have in real life. For me it was honestly a lifesaver. It's a place where queer youth can speak to each other and to older queer adults and not worry about being outed to parents or those around them. It's a place to get news that isn't being filtered by what the adults around you think is the appropriate political view. It's a place to speak openly about the bullying and harassment many of us experience day-to-day. It's a place with information about religious worldviews other than the one your family sees fit to teach you.
The internet was invaluable to me, as a queer woman struggling with the aftermath of sexual abuse. There was information available that had been denied to me in real life. There were places to talk where I wasn't asked what I wore or if I wasn't leading him on. There was honest information on lesbian and bisexual women that didn't paint them as aberrations or perverts. And honestly, there was an escape, however temporary, from a family and community that wanted me to shut up and go back to being a pretty quiet girl.
I would just like to say - be careful. Too many projects on young people and social media assume that every child has a supportive family, or even a support system of any sort. I worry that in this crusade against the evils of media, many youth such as I was will be deprived of the only support and source of information they have.
Hi, Sunset,
Thanks so much for visiting and sharing your comments. We actually agree with you. Our take isn't that young people shouldn't have access to social media and other digital technologies. Rather, that it's essential that they be taught the skills to think critically about the media and the tools they use to access it, and to ensure that they're in control of the media/technology and using it mindfully, rather than it using them.
We also think it's important that young people have plenty of positive experiences outside of their technology use (such as in the natural world, connecting in person, etc.), so that they don't come to depend on it in an unhealthy (e.g., addictive) way. But, certainly, it's an essential part of many lives, and as a former youth librarian, I understand how important a lifeline it can be. I'm so glad you found help and connection when you needed it.
Peace,
Marsha
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