The children of today are essentially the leaders of tomorrow. The leaders of tomorrow need to be equipped with the necessary skills to lead. To lead, you hold a position of power and influence.
Bias is a natural part of human nature, specifically within human communication. Being that it is within human nature it arises from various beliefs and backgrounds. For example; personal beliefs, culture, and religion could play a role in individuals having a bias.
The Importance of Media Literacy Education for Children
Educating children about media bias is of utmost importance, firstly, because they are the leaders of tomorrow. They are going to be in positions of power, hence they need to be aware of media bias.
Living in the digital age, everyone is prone to spend more time on their smartphones – as it is the center for connectivity and a source of information. Screen time is rapidly increasing, especially in children. Research proves that many children began digitally engaging with a smartphone or tablet before the age of 5.
Whilst knowing how important it is for older kids (in grade school and teens) to communicate with parents, guardians, peers, and even teachers at school because of the current times we find ourselves in, it is found that many children above the age of 12 own a smartphone.
The following chart, which is in support of the aforementioned findings, visually reveals the reasons why children in various age groups spend time on their smartphones and other technological devices.
Source: Pew Research
It’s worth highlighting that children are progressively getting more immersed in digitally interactive media. Considering the digital realm carries an array of benefits along with potential drawbacks, it becomes crucial to guide children about the possible risks inherent in the digital world, with a special emphasis on understanding media literacy. Media literacy education will allow children to attain many critical skills.
Digital Citizenship
Through media literacy education, children can become diligent, active, and informed digital citizens. Media literacy allows children to become responsible when engaging online, teaching them to voice their opinions and respect the opinions of others while creating a platform for digital activism through communication.
Objectivity and Evaluation
Educating children through media literacy helps them to understand and evaluate and classify media sources objectively without teaching them specific ideologies, which in turn allows them to understand and evaluate information objectively.
Discernment and Intellectual Growth
Learning about media biases allows children to make conscious choices when interacting with the media. The use of discernment will allow them to spot misinformation easily and help them navigate to other or better sources.
Promotes Media Literacy
Media literacy education allows children to grow intellectually and enables them to develop rapidly in a polarized society and polarized media.
Educating children about the current politisphere (without an agenda and from a neutral standpoint) will allow children to become critical thinkers and create a sound understanding that not all media is unbiased. Such education initiatives will allow children to navigate their way through information soundly.
Disadvantages of children without media literacy education
Media Bias is often manipulative, prohibiting individuals from making well-informed decisions. It results in, and could be the result of many negative consequences. Children should be provided with concise and impartial information as much as possible.
| Spread of Misinformation
| Living in an already polarized world of media. The information consumed is already filled with conscious and subconscious Bias. If adults. already cause the spread of misinformation – children too are prone to do so if they are not media literate. The spread of misinformation will have children to have a fragmented view on media and society. Already, information spreads rapidly and misinformation like a wildfire. |
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Impacted mental health
| The information we consume can lead to heightened anxiety and a lack of boundaries navigating between life online and real life. Unrealistic standards of living portrayed through social media and other channels can cause serious problems in children’s perspective on life and society. This can even lead to bullying, because of a certain standard of living portrayed online children can bully and get bullied by others. Well taught media literacy can curb bullying and encourage objectivity in children online. |
| Lack of awareness on Media Bias
| Media Literacy promotes awareness of hidden agendas and biases that can be found in the media. A lack of awareness on media bias, leads children to take the information as valid. This prevents them from considering other perspectives, which can allow for questioning of the media they consume. |
| Hindered ability to navigate the media landscape safely
| A lack of media literacy prohibits children’s ability to critically engage and interpret information accurately. Thus, they will not be able to navigate the media landscape in a sound and safe manner which could be to their demise in an already media-driven society. |
Misinformation is Growing Across America
Media bias, particularly when manipulated, can significantly impact decision-making processes by fostering distorted perceptions of reality. This phenomenon becomes more critical in the context of children who are undeniably future leaders. In recent studies conducted, about 70% of Americans agree that the spread of misinformation online is a major threat. This is just an eye opener to the necessity of media literacy, especially in children because they are the primary focus as they are the leaders of tomorrow. The spread of misinformation is a global problem, affecting millions of people. Ultimately, it is noted that false information spreads more rapidly online. Social media hosts a high speed of sharing, an algorithmic bias and lack of verification – hence information can be easily misinterpreted. In America the rapid spread of misinformation is growing, studies prove that About 67% of Americans believe that fake news causes confusion. The most recent data comes from the Covid-19 pandemic where most 80% of Americans believe that they consumed fake news. This implies the need for more critical thinking and fact-checking skills. The study reveals the growing and rapid spread of misinformation across America.
Distorted Perception of Reality
The primary concern lies in the ability of biased media to subtly shape our interpretations and judgments. Whether it’s in news coverage, advertising, or entertainment, media largely influences what we see, how we interpret it, and consequently, how we understand the world around us. When this information is skewed or manipulated, it can foster misconceptions and biased perspectives amongst consumers, interfering with objective decision-making.
For children, these effects can be even more pronounced. As their cognitive abilities are still developing, children are highly impressionable and tend to accept media content at face value. They lack the necessary critical thinking skills to discern bias or manipulation in the messages they consume. Consequently, persistent exposure to biased media can significantly shape their worldviews, often in a distorted manner.
Moreover, since children are the leaders of the future, their susceptibility to media bias is concerning for society at large. If their perceptions and beliefs are rooted in biased information, their future decisions and actions could be based on a skewed understanding of the world. This could potentially lead to a range of societal implications, such as polarization, misinformation spread, and biased policymaking.
Lack of Media Literacy Education
Educational interventions, particularly in the domain of media literacy, appear to be a viable solution to this issue but they are hard to find. By teaching children how to critically analyze media content, discern bias, and navigate the digital world responsibly, we can support them in developing more balanced and informed perspectives. This education can contribute significantly towards preparing them for their roles as future leaders and decision-makers.
Providing satisfactory and effective media literacy education is very challenging. Therefore, partnering with a firm, like Biasly, whose sole mission is to provide media literacy education solutions through its bias meter and education products seems like the right choice.
Lack of Objectivity
News agencies focusing on opinion rather than objectivity ultimately leads to the spread of misinformation. This could lead to the reinforcement of malicious beliefs that children grew up with and could negatively influence their public opinion in one way or another.
According to an article on OSF healthcare “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports the average daily hours by age group: 8-10 years old: Six hours, 11-14 years old: Nine hours, 15-18 years old: Seven and 1/2 hours. And these figures don’t even include the time kids spend on screens for their school work.”
Though these figures may be of no shock as we are in the digital age, they show the importance of the need for more media literacy programs. Children need the skills to consume media objectively and not be susceptible to misinformation or bias manipulation.
Media Literacy Education at Biasly
Biasly, established in 2017, provides media literacy education software for schools and organizations of all types. Our education platform helps educational institutions with the following:
- Grasping appropriate use of various social media platforms
- Acknowledging the harmful effects of misusing technology
- Promoting cybersafety, cybersecurity, and cybertethics in social media conduct
- Evaluating reliable news and information sources and engaging effectively in digital communication
- Enhancing critical thinking abilities
- Understanding media message construction and their underlying objectives
- Comprehending social media’s impact on mental health
- Identifying and combatting misinformation spread on social media
- Discerning social media’s role in shaping behavior
- Recognizing the enduring nature of online content sharing
- Maintaining online safety against cyber threats like bullying, predatory behaviors, and human trafficking
- Reporting suspicious online behavior effectively
Request a demo to learn more or get started with our media bias and literacy education platform.