Media are all around us. From the TV we watch and the advertisements we see to the social media sites we use and the news we read. Our digitally connected world is constantly changing how we play, learn and interact with each other.
Digital citizenship is the ability to navigate our digital environments in a way that's safe and responsible and to actively and respectfully engage in these spaces.
Digital media literacy is the ability to critically, effectively and responsibly access, use, understand and engage with media of all kinds.
In the 2022 Elementary Physical Education and Wellness curriculum, digital media literacy is represented in several categories of knowledge, skills and procedures and understandings. Students learn about growth and development, safety, nutrition, mental health, healthy relationships and financial literacy.
How advertising works… even when you don’t realize it. Just letting kids know they’re being advertised to is not enough to make them engage critically with an ad. Helping kids recognize how advertising works is essential, too. Even young kids can become more skeptical about marketing when they’re told why and how ads try to persuade them.
Kids don’t just see ads in media: more and more, they buy things right on their screens. This section looks at the ways that young people shop online and how they can be manipulated into spending.
“Advertising has always sold anxiety, and it certainly sells anxiety to the young. It’s always telling them they’re losers unless they’re cool.” (Mark Crispin Miller, The Merchants of Cool, 2000)