Do you know what happens each time you use Google Maps or your banking app? Do you have any idea what you’re authorising each time you accept a website’s cookies? Have you unknowingly allowed your conversations to be recorded? Can we distinguish between an advertisement and an informative piece of content? New technologies have greatly expanded the range of media we use to get informed but, above all, they have infinitely multiplied the amount of “consumable” information. Today, in just two days, we generate the same amount of information as was created in the last 2,000 years.
This immense volume of information comes with both advantages and drawbacks. One of its biggest advantages is accessibility. Never before has it been so easy to access such a large quantity of knowledge. What used to take years of research and investigation just a few decades ago can now be found at the click of a button in seconds. However, producing and consuming content is a responsibility we must learn to handle, just as we learn, for example, how to walk safely on the street or behave civilly.
Nowadays, learning to consume content responsibly is almost as important as learning to read and write. Yet we hand digital devices to young children without explaining anything about what their use entails. In part, this is because most of us are unaware ourselves. Media and information literacy is the set of knowledge we need in order to access today’s media and information.
In this interview, Mariaje González Flor, an expert in media and information literacy and director and founder of Criterio MIL, discusses the skills we need to acquire to consider ourselves media literate and how to teach younger generations to confidently navigate the media that dominate today’s information society.
