Media Literacy: just for the fun of it?

Based on some current conferences and publications it doesn't take too much effort to conclude that there are currently three dominant views on media literacy in the Netherlands. The first one is the view that media literacy first and foremost is about protecting innocent children against all the bad things happening on the Internet: internet filters, special browsers, parental control, crash courses for parents and teachers on how to monitor children on Habbo Hotel, World of Warcraft or whatever social medium they are using. This is media literacy as the guardian angel of the fragile soul of children against the evil empire of bad taste flooding the Internet. (The immediate inclination to state 'nothing wrong with that' is there, but I beg to differ, although this is a somewhat different discussion. Another remark though: in a peculiar sense this contradicts the 'digital natives ideology' of Don Tapscott and his followers: is not their believe that children/youngsters are completely media savvy and can see through for instance all online marketing scams? So why do they need protecting? And if they do, are 'digital immigrants' the most logical candidates to teach them online self-defence?).

Tagged with: fun, digital natives, media literacy,