Why media literacy is more important than ever
Looking back, it's amazing how rapidly our media consumption has changed over the last ten years. I deliberately say: ours. It's not just young people who are making intensive use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation, but also us adults.
The number of services and apps has grown in parallel with the rapid technological development. Today, it is possible to access any information and entertainment services at any time and in any place. Netflix and Spotify are an integral part of youth culture.
The apps installed on a smartphone today are also an individual expression of personality. This is the conclusion reached in a new focus report by the authors of the ZHAW's «JAMES» studies, which have been monitoring the media behaviour of young people in Switzerland since 2010.
Good news for all cultural pessimists: the frequency with which young people read books has remained stable over the last ten years.
However, this positive development in itself is accompanied by a great deal of confusion: What economic and possibly political interests are behind an app? What am I letting myself in for when I use it? The range on offer is changing rapidly and demands a high level of media literacy from young people. Parents and schools are called upon to provide the necessary support and training.
Gender roles less important
«JAMESfocus 2022» also shows that the so-called gender shift - the gender differences in the behaviour of young people between the ages of 12 and 19 - is becoming smaller and smaller. This is a hopeful development.
The type of use is being characterised less and less by gender roles and more by personal preferences. However, boys and young men still play significantly more video games than girls and young women. However, this probably has more to do with the range on offer, which is not very attractive to many female users. The industry could show more innovation and creativity here.
Although young people's online time is very stable at around 2.5 hours per day (with a certain increase during the pandemic), we parents are noticing every day that conversations within the family are increasingly interrupted by reminder sounds, alerts or Tiktok clips. We parents must therefore continue to work towards a balance between media and family time.
For all cultural pessimists, there is some good news at the end: the frequency with which young people read books has remained stable over the last ten years. This means that books are still holding their own against the lure of digitalisation. A good 25 per cent of young people regularly pick up a book - just as they did ten years ago.
