When I first read the focus of topic 1 – digital literacies, I got quite interested. This spring, all of us had to “jump” in the deep waters of the digital learning environment and learn to “swim”. There was no time for preparation or reflection. So it felt good to have time to explicitly reflect on what does it mean from different perspectives. Looking at one of the model suggested in Developing digital literacies (2014) JISC guide, I quickly came to realize that the main stream focus of the digital literacies have been on skills to technically operate technologies (or as skills to teach with digital media) from the individual perspective, while aspects and skills related to well-being and the influence of the larger community you are part of are somehow on the background.

The seven elements of digital literacies that the course literature presented, namely Developing digital literacies (2014) JISC guide, seems to me so individ-focused. There is nothing about how community values and norms are influencing those. Additionally,
well-being is explicitly missing. The model gives somehow an implicit overly positive picture without reflecting on the negative aspects associated with those. An article that I found on the topic and its main message resonated really well with me. Gui et al. (2017) state: while the development of digital skills has been hitherto understood primarily as the development of skills to technically operate technologies (or as skills to teach with digital media), now it seems an important task for the school system to
develop skills to limit and to channel this use. The authors further argue for:

• specific skills to channel digital stimuli towards personal goals and benefit, avoiding excessive multi-tasking, fragmentation of daily time
• rethinking existing frameworks of digital skills as they do not explicitly consider abilities to cope with communication/information overabundance
• considering “digital well-being” as a state obtainable not only by the individual through his/her personal “digital well-being skills”, but also as a characteristic of a community whose norms, values and expectations contribute to its members’ comfort, safety, satisfaction and fulfillment.

Therefore, we as educators need to spcifically focus to the digital literacies a set of skills needed to manage the side effects of digital communication overabundance. In particular, according to Gui et al. (2017): digital well-being skills can be identified as the skills to achieve strategic attention focusing in daily life and to avoid the stress caused by the overwhelming flow of information, minimising wastes of time and attention on irrelevant activities in the subject’s perception.

While the development of digital skills has been hitherto understood primarily as the development of skills to technically operate technologies, now it seems an important task for the school system to develop skills to limit and to channel this use.

Gui et al. (2017)

When reading the above message, I came to think about my daughter. She is 10 years old. Already now, the digital learning environment and tools are taking big part of her time at school and at home. Very early on in their lives, the society at large programs our kids with the perception and values that the digital environment is good and effective, giving them an overly positive picture about the benefits, not focusing enough on the dangers that it may entail. The warning signs are many, but still teaching and preparing for digital well-being is not a mainstream focus of the educational system. It is somehow left to the responsibility of the parents as well as to the individual itself. But aren’t we all responsible? Can the digital environment and the digital tools turn into the addiction plague of our time? Just watch the Social Dilemma movie on Netflix. Don’t you become scared? What responsibility do we, as educators, have…….?

References

Gui, M., Fasoli, M., & Carradore, R. (2017). “Digital Well-Being”. Developing a New Theoretical Tool For Media Literacy Research. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 9(1), 155-173. doi: 10.14658/pupj-ijse-2017-1-8

Developing digital literacies (2014) JISC guide.