How is Your Digital Literacy?

How do we measure our digital literacy? Is it by the number of gadgets and devices we have? Is it by the length of time we spend online? Or is it something more in terms of knowledge, skill, and behavior in using digital devices and platforms? This is the very question which LiteraSEE hoped to answer yesterday.

LiteraSEE

LiteraSEE – “Rethink What You Are Doing in the Digital World”  is a Media and Information Literacy Symposium organized by the class of BABrC3-1D, students of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) -Sta Mesa, taking up Broadcast Communication. The seminar is the final requirement for their subject Media and Information Literacy. They tapped four speakers, including myself to talk about the different aspects related to digital literacy.

Mark Norella from Buhay Media talked about Digital Literacy in the Media Professions, Rhyan Malandog of Youth Media Network  tackled the topic Transmedia and Digital Literacy, Joseph Rick Cataan of CNN PH handled the very interesting topic of Privacy in the Digital World:Ownership, Policies, and Ethics, while I was tasked to discuss the Dangers of Social Media and How to be Responsible Users of Social Media. It turned out to be a very productive afternoon filled with practical and good-to-know information. This was true not only for the students who were the intended audience that day but to us speakers as well who got a good sampling of how the youth of today grasp the idea of social media use.

Measuring Digital Literacy

What clearly came out during the seminar was that digital literacy is not guaranteed merely by having and participating in social media platforms. Most may be handling their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop PCs day in and day out but that doesn’t automatically equate to digital literacy. Aside from digital knowledge and skills, a person needs to understand the behavioral protocols involved.

There are rules of engagement that have to observed and adhered to if one is to come out of it unscathed. Most importantly, the essential rules involve protecting one’s self from unwanted intrusion and harming no other social media participant along the way. The rest we learn as we go along.

My Say

I believe all the speakers are one in saying that Digital Literacy is attained by fully understanding all the related complexities that go with technology and not just one. Literacy is only the first step towards mastery and in itself can be very challenging. We can all maximize the use of social media if we accept the responsibility that comes with enjoying it. Let us all try to be digitally literate in the truest sense of the word by knowing our rights and limitations when we choose to participate.