Don't believe all that you read on the Net

At the same time, there is an exponential growth in the use of laptops, tablets and smartphones in hosting, sharing and accessing content.

By Fazal Malik (Communication)

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Published: Tue 18 Oct 2016, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Tue 18 Oct 2016, 10:19 PM

We live in the middle of an ever-evolving media scenario in which digitalisation and convergence are disrupting the conventional silos that, for a long time, differentiated and defined various forms of mass media. As the content turns into bits and bytes, it continuously creates new formats and platforms, blurring the conventional distinctions between the print, electronic and online media. In this new media situation, content is created, shared and recycled repeatedly, saturating an already crowded media landscape.
At the same time, there is an exponential growth in the use of laptops, tablets and smartphones in hosting, sharing and accessing content. Social media channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn etc, are trying to displace TV, Radio, Newspapers etc as major media platforms.
With the highest penetration of mobile phones and broadband connectivity in the region, the young population of the UAE is accessing more, sharing more and consuming more media. According to a study carried out by the Expo 2020 and YouGov, published recently, the main source of information for the GCC youth aged between 16 and 25 comes from online and social media. In the Arab world, people under the age of 24 make almost half of the population, which is twice the ratio in the UK and North America. This great 'demographic dividend' is very technology savvy and highly prolific in the use of social media. For this generation, use of mobile phone is almost organic, and devices have become an inseparable part of their daily existence. Obviously, most of the Internet penetration is mobile-centric, with the share of views on mobile phones jumping from 11 per cent in 2011 to almost 70 per cent in 2015.
With the abundance of media content available and the ways of consuming it also on increase, we need to ask ourselves whether the young consumers, have the critical skills to decipher the meaning of what they are exposed to? Can they identify bias, propaganda and misinformation embedded in the content? No doubt, these digital inhabitants have better information technology skills, giving them an advantage in accessing a range of content, but the question is if they are media literate?
In the Middle East, especially the UAE, need for a media literacy focus in the curriculum, both at primary and secondary level education, has become indispensable as torrents of wanted and unwanted content and persuasions consistently try to sweep the younger generation off their feet. Media literacy, however, needs not to be seen as a cynical approach to create existential fears about technology and media but an empowering tool to develop nuanced thinking that helps young minds to understand and enjoy media content without being manipulated.
The writer is Program Leader, Journalism and Mass Communication at Amity University, Dubai


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