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Young people are continuously immersed in media content. A Gallup poll released in October reveals that more than half of those surveyed spend an average of 4.8 hours daily on various social media apps. These platforms are a primary source of information for most people around that age, with YouTube, TikTok and Instagram being used the most often.

With the frequent use of social media as a source of information, it is necessary to know how to navigate a variety of misleading content. Sponsored content, conspiracy theories, artificial intelligence-generated content and disinformation all contribute to intensifying political polarization and undermining public health and democracy.

We’ve already witnessed the very real harm of misleading information in various instances. Childhood immunization rates have continuously declined due to the unfounded fear of vaccines; a violent insurrection at The Capitol was incited by a false narrative about the election outcome, publicly endorsed by former President Donald Trump; a right-wing conspiracy theorist was recently convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault for attacking the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The mainstreaming and pervasiveness of conspiracy theories and disinformation has become one the most serious challenges to the foundation of American political consensus and governance.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education defines media literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication. Proper interpretation, understanding and application of media literacy by students could significantly improve the alarming statistics, which show that 60 percent of Americans ages 13 to 17 believe in multiple harmful conspiracy theories.

To combat this, many states are launching initiatives to promote media literacy in classrooms.

In California, a law set to take effect in 2024 mandates the incorporation of media literacy concepts into core K-12 curriculums. This approach integrates media literacy into mathematics, science, history and other relevant subjects, rather than treating it as a standalone subject. It promotes an interdisciplinary approach, where students learn about media literacy in the context of various disciplines, thus developing critical thinking skills to analyze and evaluate the information they encounter daily.

This month, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a similar plan for New York. New media literacy tools for K-12 schools are being implemented to help students spot conspiracy theories, misinformation, disinformation and online hate speech following increases in antisemitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric amid the Israel-Hamas war. Hochul aims to tackle this crisis by arming students with knowledge to condemn hate. The media literacy toolkit, Hochul claims, prepares young people for today’s confusing information landscape.

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The need for increased media literacy is just as crucial for college students. According to Pew Research Center, college students, just like the adolescents in the Gallup poll, predominantly receive information through social media and digital platforms.

“It is important for everyone, students or not, to better understand the media and the information they consume,” said Brad Gorham, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications’ communication department chair. Gorham advocates for increasing awareness in media literacy that goes beyond just K-12 education because “false information and lies can be made to look very authentic and credible and can spread around the Internet much more quickly than can the fact-checking and debunking needed to set the record straight.”

Not all of the feedback for the government’s attempts to increase student media literacy has been positive; Joe Concha, a conservative commentator for Fox News, called New Jersey’s education program — that also promotes a K-12 curriculum integration of media literacy — “beyond subjective” and something to “ be weaponized for political power.” Gorham disagrees with this position, saying “those who are against media literacy and the critical thinking it requires tend to be the folks who support false ideas and lies.”

Those who oppose increasing the awareness of critical analysis are becoming accessories to the disinformation ecosystem.

Currently, 18 states have legislative solutions for addressing media literacy education, but many overlook college students, who are no less susceptible to misinformation than younger demographics. Gorham proposes a specific college course on media literacy, which could be quantified and measured for effectiveness.

College students can only critically receive content and form sound judgments based on reliable information sources if they first understand the process of generating and producing media content. At a time when the creation of false information is becoming easier to develop with AI technologies and social media mechanisms, increased education in this area is necessary to curb the current trend of media illiteracy.

Allen Huang is a second year Media Studies masters student. He can be reached at xhuang49@syr.edu.

Published on December 3, 2023 at 10:37 pm