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Chapter One: Introduction
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic false news and unverified information has spread
along with the virus, demonstrating that disinformation can literally be deadly. In fact, a recent
analysis finds that over 150,000 Americans died preventable deaths because they chose not to get
vaccinated, partially due to vaccine misinformation spread through media messaging (Martínez
& Aubrey, 2022; Zhong et al., 2022). The COVID-19 public health crisis is just one recent
example behind efforts to combat misinformation among future generations through media
literacy education. In academia, media literacy is a thoroughly researched topic, and many media
literacy researchers act as advocates for media literacy education in the classroom (Funk et al.,
2016; Hobbs, 2005; Mihailidis et al., 2021b; Ramasubramanian et al., 2021; Redmond, 2015).
From a government standpoint, 14 states currently have a media literacy education law in place
for K-12 schools, all of which were implemented in the past 15 years, and an additional 16 states
have media literacy education bills for K-12 schools (U.S. Media Literacy and Policy Update,
2021). As efforts to implement media literacy education expand, it is imperative that media
literacy instruction is useful and helpful to those who will engage with it —the young people
themselves.
The purpose of this qualitative, constructivist thesis is to understand perceptions and
reflections of media literacy and media literacy education among young people (18 and 19-year-
olds) in the United States. The constructivist approach assumes that people’s perceptions of the
world are socially constructed based on the experiences they have had (Schwandt, 2000). The
constructivist approach emerges from hermeneutics, which is the study of interpreting meaning
(Mertens, 2020). Constructivism also highlights that research is a “product of the values of
researchers and cannot be independent of them” (Mertens, 2020 p. 17). This thesis focuses solely
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on the constructivist worldview, because the main goal is to understand how young people
understand media literacy based on their unique understanding of the world. For the purposes of
this study, “media literacy” is defined as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act
using all forms of communication” and media literacy education is defined as “the practices
necessary to foster these skills” (NAMLE).
Media literacy has been discussed and researched at length, and therefore there are
varying conceptualizations of the term. The National Association for Media Literacy Education
(NAMLE) asserts that media literacy is interdisciplinary, includes the use of technology and
defines it as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of
communication” (NAMLE). Another media literacy nonprofit, the Action Coalition for Media
Education (ACME), defines media literacy as the ability to “engage, challenge, and create media
in ways that empower individuals and communities” (ACME). Media literacy has also been
defined as the ability to read and write media (Buckingham, 2003), as well as the ability to
critically think about media messages and the information that they present (Hobbs, 2007;
Kamerer, 2013; Kellner & Share, 2019; Livingstone, 2004) in order to understand the larger
implications of these media messages (Garcia, 2013; Potter, 2018). These multiple aspects all
must come together to create a media literate person, and therefore those who will receive a
media literacy education should be consulted to create a curriculum that benefits them and leads
them on a path towards media literacy (Roschke, 2020).
Further, there are multiple literacy disciplines that relate to or are supported by media
literacy. These literacies are discussed in this thesis because of this overlap, and because many
participants viewed them as synonymous with media literacy (see Results chapter for more
information). First, information literacy teaches people how to gather, analyze and use
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information, focusing not on the mass media, but on academic databases and literature (Bruce,
1997; Zurkowski, 1974). Information literacy is typically taught to students by librarians, and,
similarly to media literacy, aims to enhance critical thinking skills and create analytical
information consumers and creators (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2003; Mackey & Jacobson, 2011;
Simmons, 2005; Tewell, 2015). The other literacies discussed in this section of the thesis are
more directly related to media literacy, including internet and digital media literacy, which focus
on people’s ability to navigate the internet in a safe, responsible, and productive manner
(Buckingham, 2009; Calvani et al., 2012; DiMaggio et al., 2004; Glister, 1997; Kim & Yang,
2015; Ng, 2012). Finally, news media literacy focuses solely on news media, with the aim of
creating informed citizens and voters, who can navigate news media to get truthful and relevant
news information (Altschull, 1995; Ashley et al., 2013; Mihailidis, 2012; Vraga & Tully, 2015).
The multiple literacies associated with media literacy allow for it to be taught in conjunction
with other subjects, such as health and sexual health education (Attwood et al., 2015; Chen et al.,
2013; Pinkleton et al., 2008; Pinkleton et al., 2012) and anti-racism and anti-sexism education
(Drogos, 2021; Grabe et al., 2019; Ramasubramanian, 2007; Scharrer & Ramasubramanian,
2015; Walsh et al., 2014).
Chapter Two provides an overview of four approaches to media literacy education,
derived from Francis’ (2016) research on approaches to media literacy education. Of course,
there is overlap with these approaches, and often collaboration between scholars, but in order to
best categorize media literacy for the purposes of this thesis, the following four areas will be
addressed: protectionist, critical, production and the social justice-oriented approach. The
protectionist approach centers on the idea that media directly influence behavior, like a
hypodermic needle (Laswell, 1927). and therefore people, particularly young people, need to be
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protected from it (Hobbs, 1998; Kubey, 1998; Mendoza, 2009; Pasquier, 2001; Winn, 1977).
This approach insists that “low culture” such as video games, reality TV and hip-hop do not
provide any enrichment and should be avoided (Postman, 1985; Postman, 2006). Kellner &
Share (2005) put forth the contemporary design for critical media literacy, which focuses on
students bringing their individual experiences to discussions about media. Critical media literacy
also focuses comprehension of other topics such as multicultural understanding and climate
change, to promote productive uses of media that encourage an informed and active democratic
public (Hyslop-Marginson & Pinto, 2007; López, 2019; Share, 2020). The third approach is the
production approach, which focuses on teaching students how to produce media. This approach
aims to enhance collaboration, communication, and creativity, while also teaching young people
to advocate for themselves through media creation (Cheung, 2009; Hobbs, 1998; Kearney, 2013;
Goble, 2016; Norton & Hathaway, 2010; Tyner, 2014). The final approach discussed in the
literature review is the social justice-oriented approach. This approach encourages media literacy
educators to discard the hegemonic, white-centered narratives in order to uplift and support
marginalized and minoritized students (Kellner & Share, 2019; McArthur, 2016;
Ramasubramanian et al. 2021).
Several studies have evaluated young peoples’ media abilities and skills (Arke &
Primack, 2009; Ashley & Fasbinder, 2012; Ashley et al., 2013; McGrew et al., 2018; Metzger et
al., 2015; Nygren, 2019). These studies provided evidence that young people often lack basic
media literacy knowledge (such as how to tell the difference between a news story and a press
release, and how to identify hoax websites) and call for media literacy education to be
implemented to give young people the tools to develop media literacy skills. Researchers have
also assessed what young people learn after taking a media literacy course (Fingar & Jolls, 2014;
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Fleming, 2014; Kleemans & Eggnik, 2016; Hobbs, 2007; Ramasubramanian, 2007; Scharrer et
al., 2020; Sekarasih et al., 2020; Vraga et al., 2009) and discovered that young people learn
valuable skills, such as how to identify stereotypes in media and how to evaluate news
credibility.
Although each of the above studies has contributed invaluable information to the media
literacy education field, few have focused primarily on young people’s perceptions and
understanding of media literacy and media literacy education. Akcayoglu & Daggol (2019)
assessed Turkish university students’ knowledge of media literacy, centering on students’
willingness and ability to use media for foreign language learning. In Australia, Chambers et al.
(2022) assessed if adults of all ages valued media literacy, focusing on what components of
media literacy were the most important, and if the level of importance varied depending on a
person’s values. De Lyn et al. (2021) conducted a study in Belgium focused on young people’s
viewpoints and comprehension of media literacy via qualitative interviews.
The above studies are greatly beneficial to the media literacy discipline, and this study
aims to fill a research gap by focusing on American young adults’ perceptions of media literacy
and media literacy education. Further, very little research has focused on American emerging
adults’ reflections of media literacy education following prolonged remote and hybrid learning
due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Because young people’s mode of
education switched to remote or hybrid learning quite quickly, they had to access, analyze, create
and act (NAMLE) using media in a completely new environment, often isolated from their peers
and teachers. Moreover, research often fails to expand to young people’s perceptions of media
literacy education that may be provided outside of a class or workshop dedicated to the topic.
Mihiladis et al. (2021a) point out that scholars often enter a school, provide lessons and
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resources, conduct their research, and leave, taking their resources and knowledge with them.
This is inconsiderate of the students, and it also means that media literacy research tends to focus
on young people who have had some sort of formal media literacy training, whether it be through
a workshop organized by researchers, or research in collaboration with teachers who are trained
in the subject. Because of this model, research tends to ignore young people’s perceptions and
experiences media literacy education that may happen outside of a formal media literacy class or
course (such as media literacy instruction within a class for a different subject). Therefore, the
aim of this study is to gain perspectives from young adults with varying media literacy education
experiences to help provide comprehensive and beneficial insights into how they view media
literacy and media literacy education.
This study will add to the media research field because it focuses solely on emerging
adults’ perceptions and definitions of media literacy and media literacy education, whereas much
of past research implemented emerging adults’ perceptions of media literacy education as just a
facet of a larger study; or focused on educators’ perceptions instead of students. Secondly, media
literacy education is already legally implemented in several states, with policymakers in other
states and in the federal government pushing to do the same, it is important to understand young
adults’ perspectives about media literacy education, so that these perspectives help educators and
policymakers to make informed decisions regarding media literacy education. It is particularly
advantageous to study 18 and 19-year-olds because most have completed their K-12 education
(National Center for Education Statistics), and therefore can provide meaningful and
comprehensive insights about their expectations and experiences surrounding media literacy
education.
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The information provided in the previous two paragraphs leads to the following three
research questions:
RQ1: How do young adults define and conceptualize media literacy?
RQ2: What knowledge and skills do young adults associate with media literacy?
RQ3: What are young adults’ perceptions of media literacy education in the classroom?
The following chapter contains a literature review that focuses on research and
conceptualizations of media literacy and media literacy education, primarily focusing on young
people. The chapter also provides a brief description of media literacy education policies in the
United States. Chapter Three will explain the methodological approach to this study, which takes
a qualitative, constructivist approach utilizing semi-structured interviews about young people’s
perceptions of media literacy and media literacy education. Next, the fourth chapter explains the
results through themes: New Generation, New Communication, New Education; Reading and
Comprehension; Media Use; Computer Kids; “We Were the Guinea Pigs”; Social Media
Addiction; I want to Learn Media in School; Learning Media Literacy; Protectionist Learning.
Finally, Chapter Six concludes the paper with a discussion of the findings.
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Chapter Two: Literature Review
This chapter focuses on literature about media literacy and media literacy education. The
first section provides insight into youth and media, focusing on young peoples’ relationship to
media and a broad overview of media and education. Next, the concept of media literacy and its
theoretical considerations will be discussed at length, focusing on the foundational definitions of
media literacy, information literacy, internet literacy/digital literacy and news media literacy.
The third section examines four approaches to media literacy education. The next section will
discuss media literacy education policies in the United States. The final section of this literature
review focuses on past studies about media literacy and media literacy education with young
adults.
Why Study Young Adults?
As mentioned in the introduction, this thesis focuses on young people who are 18 and 19-
years old. This age group is important to study because they are close to completing if not
finished with their K-12 education. This means they are in a position to provide a holistic view
of the media literacy education they received and reflect on its benefits and drawbacks. The
following subheadings will detail young people’s relationship with the media, as well as media
and education practices and purposes, to emphasize the importance of studying 18 and 19-year
old’s perceptions and opinions of media literacy education.
Young Adults and Media
It is no secret that young people are involved and engaged with media in a way that older
people, including their own teachers and parents, are unable and sometimes even unwilling to
understand. One of the major areas in which young peoples’ media routines differ is their social
media consumption. In the United States, 84% of people ages 18 to 29 use social media, which
far exceeds the social media use of any other age demographic. Further, those in the 18 to 24 age
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group are more likely than any other demographic to be on TikTok (55%), Snapchat (75%) and
Instagram (76%) (Auxier & Anderson, 2021). These figures alone make studying young people’s
perceptions of media literacy worthwhile, because they are using media platforms that are
relatively new, the youngest being TikTok, which was launched in the U.S. in 2016 (Liao & Shu,
2020). It’s important to note that these platforms are not just meant for passive consumption, but
are also a place for content creation for many young people. In fact, young people often view
their social media profiles as an extension of themselves (Riccio, 2020).
The above statistics take on more weight when considering that receiving news from
social media leads to a decline in understanding news credibility, and that social media use leads
to a greater intake of biased news (Mitchell et al., 2020). Further, social media is the most likely
place for online harassment to occur (Vogels, 2021). Young peoples’ social media use is also a
cause for concern due to tech companies’ mismanagement, whether intentional or unintentional,
of platforms’ attention-seeking and profit-first business models (Mihailidis, 2021b; Tyner, 2019).
Social media can also lead to an increase in mental health problems, especially among young
women (Twenge, 2017). Although these findings look rather dismal, it is important to understand
how young people view these issues, and what types of tools they would like to be given through
a media literacy education to combat these harmful social media effects.
Young people also differ greatly from their elders in how they consume news. Only 16%
of people ages 18 to 29 use the television to get news. Instead, 71% of people ages 18 to 29 often
get their news from a digital device, such as a smartphone (Shearer, 2021). To elaborate, 44% of
people ages 18 to 29 regularly get news from Instagram, 52% of people ages 18 to 29 regularly
get news from TikTok, and 63% of people ages 18 to 29 regularly get their news from Snapchat.
These numbers far exceed any other age group’s news consumption on these platforms (Walker
& Matsa, 2021). A three-stage news consumption pattern occurs with young adults ages 18 to 25
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in the United States. First, young people engage in routine surveillance –meaning they regularly
check for news using their smartphones (employing methods such as push notifications and
email alerts). Secondly, young adults receive news through incidental exposure – meaning they
find news without seeking it out, typically through social media. Thirdly, when young people
want to take a deeper dive into a news topic, they do so by using a directed approach, for which
they look for more information using news websites or television networks (Antunovic et al.
2018).
Although social media is the main platform for many young people, it is important to
address other forms of media as well. Streaming services, such as Netflix and Spotify, are also
immensely popular. For example, 91% of people ages 18-29 who do not have cable say they do
not subscribe to a cable company because they are able to access what they want to watch online
(Raine, 2021). When it comes to music streaming, 51% of adults ages 18-29 stream music using
a platform such as Spotify every day, which is more than double the 24% of all adults who
stream music every day (Shevenock, 2020). These services are also relatively new, justifying
research about how young people would like to be taught about these platforms.
With all the above information in mind, it is important to address the psychological
effects of media consumption on today’s young people. Depression and anxiety in young people
are correlated with the amount of time spent on social media platforms (Lin et al., 2016;
Sagioglou & Greitemeyer, 2014; Shensa et al., 2016) as well as the number of social platforms a
young person uses (Primack et al. 2017). Cyberbullying is also an issue among young people,
with the most common cause of cyberbullying being relationship issues, and the most common
recipients being young women (Hamm et al., 2015). Further, social media use is positively
related with body image issues (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016), especially on more visual social
media, like Instagram and Snapchat, which are commonly used by young people (Marengo et al.,
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2018). Facebook’s own internal research, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, revealed that one
in three girls felt worse about their body image because of Instagram (Wells, Horwitz &
Seetharaman, 2021). Young people who compare themselves to others on social media are more
likely to have a negative body image (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016), and young people who post
selfies on social media are more likely to have a negative body image, even when the selfies are
edited (Mills et al., 2018). These psychological effects are undoubtedly taking a toll on young
people, and this thesis aims to better understand how young people want to be taught about these
issues through a media literacy education.
Young Adults and Media Education
The idea that education should be pertinent to children’s lives and experiences was first
established in the United States by philosopher John Dewey. Dewey believed that students
needed to be active participants in their classroom in order to benefit their community and
strengthen U.S. democracy as a whole (Dewey, 1934). Young people are often viewed in our
society as lost, unable to think for themselves, and in need of guidance (Durham, 2017). In
contrast young people are also often viewed as enactors of social change and new viewpoints
that former generations did not hold (De Leyn et al., 2019). With this duality mind, it is
important to understand what young adults think of themselves regarding their media literacy
education, so that educators and lawmakers can create policies and curricula that best serve and
benefit the students.
There are three assumptions that are currently present in both media literacy research and
educational practice, as outlined by Mihailidis et al., 2021b: individual empowerment,
community support, and democratic engagement. Firstly, media literacy prioritizes the
individual, focusing on how people can use media to empower themselves and become better
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citizens (Buckingham, 2019; Hobbs, 2017; Kellner & Share, 2019). There is a danger in
prioritizing the individual because it leads to personal responsibility and therefore consequences,
rather than community support and discussion. Secondly, media literacy education leads to
community empowerment (Mihailidis et al., 2021b). Of course, media literacy education can
empower a community through civic engagement (Ramasubramanian & Darzabi, 2020;
Robertson & Scheidler-Benns, 2016) and empower young people who are members of
marginalized groups to create digital movements and advocate for themselves
(Ramasubramanian & Darzabi, 2020; Ramasubramanian et al., 2020). However, media literacy
research and education often ignore the fact that not all young people in the United States have
access to media and technology. Furthermore, media literacy education initiatives often look
down upon marginalized communities by taking a top-down, instructor to student approach, and
leaving with the tools they provided at the conclusion of such initiatives (Mihailidis et al. 2021a).
The third assumption is that media literacy education instills and strengthens democratic values
(Mihailidis et al. 2021a). Ramasubramanian & Darzabi (2020) and Higdon (2020) point out that
democracy has disparate meanings, and that often the version of democracy that is championed
in United States media literacy education is white and Eurocentric. The highly individualized
version of democracy that is often present in media literacy research and education is dangerous,
as it does not work to dismantle white supremacy, but rather reinforces it (Mihailidis et al.
2021b). With these three assumptions in mind, it is important to understand how young people
have been affected by media literacy education at its current state, and what their ideas are to
strengthen it to be a more fruitful and inclusive educational practice.
What is Media Literacy?
Media literacy is a rather expansive research topic within the media and communications
discipline. There are several theoretical standpoints within the media literacy field, and each of
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these perspectives have contributed greatly to media literacy scholarship. Young people are
increasingly becoming the target of media literacy policy and laws as well as initiatives created
by both non-profits and industry companies, and academic research about media literacy and
young people is also common (Mihailidis et al., 2021b). Therefore, the research area will be
strengthened by research focused on youths’ opinions of media literacy. This section will cover
four subsections of media literacy scholarship, which include: foundational definitions of media
literacy, information literacy, digital and internet literacy, news media literacy, and the
interdisciplinary nature of media literacy.
Foundational Definitions of Media Literacy
This section details foundational definitions that cover the theoretical, overarching
concept of media literacy. Buckingham (2003) refers to media literacy as the ability to both
“read” and “write” media, meaning a media literate person must be able to understand and
interpret media texts and be able to create such texts themselves. Buckingham emphasizes the
fact that media is a major industry designed for profit, and a media literate public is one that can
recognize this fact and use it to inform their media consumption. Expanding on this point, Hobbs
(2007) argues that media literacy involves critical reflection and analysis, not only of the media
text itself, but also of the larger political, economic, social, and historical implications
surrounding the creation and the distribution of the text. In a later work, Hobbs identified five
questions meant to be used as a model for media literacy advancement and improvement:
1) “Who is sending the message and what is the author's purpose?
2) What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in this message?
4) How might different people interpret this message differently?
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5) What is omitted from this message?” (Hobbs, 2007 p. 9).
Economic motives, representation, and access are also part of the concept of media
literacy. Audiences are also consumers for media companies’ advertisers, and therefore media
companies have an economic motive to maintain and build consumer base. Representation
details what perspectives are presented in a media message and what perspectives are not, and
access refers to finding information via media texts and subsequently understanding the
information obtained. A media literate person understands all three of these concepts, and applies
them when intaking media texts (Kamerer, 2013).
Livingstone (2004) placed media literacy within the context of the digital age while also
considering the historical and cultural significance of the subject. From this viewpoint three
overarching tiers of media literacy emerged: how knowledge, values and culture are represented,
both literally and symbolically; how people interpret this knowledge when it is presented to
them, and how this may vary between differing populations with differing backgrounds; and how
those who are deemed literate are able to access institutions of power in ways that those who are
deemed illiterate cannot. As literacy expands beyond print literacy, in order to be completely
media literate, one must not only have skills to access online media but must also have the ability
to critically think about the information presented to them in this digital space (Livingstone,
2004).
In an updated three-tiered approach, focusing on skills, knowledge structures, and
personal locus, Potter (2018) identifies skills as tools which people already tend to have, but
need to improve and focus on in the context of media literacy. For example, analysis, the ability
to examine messages, is a skill needed for one to be media literate. People use analysis in this
context in everyday situations at work, school and in conversations. According to Potter, people
can hone this skill when consuming media, and therefore use it to become more media literate.
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Knowledge structures refer to how information is organized in a person’s brain, and how this
organization can help one make sense of media messages. Lastly, personal locus refers to the
personal goals one has. If someone can identify what they would like to gain from the media they
are consuming, then they are better able to engage with media texts in a meaningful way (Potter,
2018).
Roschke (2020) asserts that media literacy is unique to the individual, in that people
implement their own personal understanding of the world when attempting to understand media
texts. Because of this, people’s understanding of media and media literacy need to be considered
when developing media literacy education curricula (Roschke, 2020). Some media literacy
scholars emphasize the importance of media literacy from a social justice perspective, indicating
that media literacy can also educate students about issues such as racism, sexism, and
homophobia (Garcia et al., 2013). Scholars who approach media literacy from a social justice
standpoint stress the importance of media literacy for the collective good, noting that media
literacy requires access that is often lacking in marginalized communities (Mihailidis et al.,
2021b).
Finally, there are several nonprofit organizations that focus on advancing and improving
media literacy education. These nonprofits offer succinct and accessible definitions of media
literacy. The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media
literacy as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of
communication” (NAMLE). The Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME) defines media
literacy as the ability to “engage, challenge, and create media in ways that empower individuals
and communities” (ACME). These definitions, particularly NAMLE’s, guide much of the
research design of this project, because they explain the various segments of media literacy while
also leaving room for multiple perceptions and interpretations, much like the goal of this thesis.
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Information Literacy
While information literacy is not particularly labeled as part of the media research
discipline, there are areas of overlap and crucial findings within the study of information literacy
that make it relevant and necessary for this thesis. In fact, a popular definition of information
literacy is “the ability to access, evaluate, organise and use information in order to learn,
problem-solve, make decisions –in formal and informal learning contexts, at work, at home and
in educational settings” (Bruce, 1997 p. 4). Clearly this definition shares many components with
NAMLE’s definition of media literacy, which is written in the paragraph directly above.
The concept of information literacy was first introduced in the 1970s due to the rapid
growth of technology, and therefore information production, that was beginning to occur.
Zurkowski (1974) presented information literacy as the partnership between libraries and
industry –making the case that school librarians could provide their pupils with guidance as they
learn to navigate an increasingly saturated information environment. In the almost 50 years since
this text, the concept of information literacy has been explored and expanded at length.
Traditionally, information literacy follows the “Big Six” skills approach, which outlines
and defines the six skills that create a media literate person. These skills are as follows: define
the task at hand; create information seeking strategies; locate and access information; use and
interact with information; and synthesize, organize, and present information; evaluate
information by critiquing the product and process (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 1990). The “Big Six”
approach is meant to be used when people need to research and learn about any type of
information that they are not familiar with. This approach should be especially used to help
students learn about the information problem-solving process. Further, there are overarching
themes incorporated with the ”Big Six,” such as: The “Big Six” works with all subjects, with
people of all ages and in all grade levels; the “Big Six” can be applied to any situation involving
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information; technology skills are incorporated in the “Big Six” process; the “Big Six” is a
looping process, not a linear one; the “Big Six” can be used as a framework for an entire
curriculum, especially one focused on technology skills; and the “Big Six” uses critical thinking
as a means to solve information-related problems (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2003). More recently,
Saunders (2017) asserted that the “Big Six” approach should be updated to include information
social justice, which focuses on information literacy as a human right.
In a study set across high schools in 15 different countries, Hatlevik et al. (2018) found
that girls are generally more information literate than boys, that students with more self-efficacy
were more likely to be information literate, and that socioeconomic status is the most important
determinant of information literacy. Students who can research beyond just the popular and
mainstream sources have higher information literacy levels, and information literacy levels are
strongly correlated with better writing abilities (Shao & Purpur, 2016). Further, when comedy is
incorporated with information literacy instruction, it helps to exhibit information literacy
concepts and makes information literacy approachable and conversation provoking (Tewell,
2014).
Critical information literacy was established in 2005, the same year that critical media
literacy also began to take shape (see more information in the following section of this chapter).
Critical information literacy goes beyond traditional information literacy and teaches that
information does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is constructed, biased, and produced with a
motive in mind. Further, librarians should engage with the material that they are teaching, so that
they are not just relaying information, but doing so in a critical manner (Simmons, 2005). Ten
years after the introduction of critical information literacy, Tewell (2015) conducted a meta-
analysis focused on critical information literacy, and concluded that information is socially
constructed and political, and therefore students must think critically about the creation, use, and
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intention of information. Further, information literacy is something that needs to be learned
through librarian and student collaboration, and the librarian should cater their critical
information literacy lessons to the needs of the students, not through a strict and standardized
curriculum (Tewell, 2015). These sentiments are similar to those of many critical media literacy
scholars’ approaches to media literacy.
Some scholars have sought to combine media literacy and information literacy into an
interdisciplinary research and education field. Mackey & Jacobson (2011) argue for the concept
of metaliteracy, which focuses on expanding information literacy so that it can be taught and
understood in the context of the digital age. The authors justify the metaliteracy reframe because
of the rise of social media, which makes the online/media landscape more collaborative. They
propose that metaliteracy include information literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, visual
literacy, cyberliteracy, and information fluency (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011). Lau (2013) and
Leaning (2017) further explored the relationship between information and media literacy, while
also urging an interdisciplinary approach to better accommodate teachers in the digital age. Lau
(2013) found that while both literacies have the same goal (creating literacy skills) they differ in
what media are most important –information literacy tends to focus mainly on the printed word,
regarding academic sources as most important, and media literacy centers on the mass media.
Wuyckens et al. (2021) conducted a meta-analysis of media literacy, information literacy and
digital literacy and concluded that information literacy is focused on developing the necessary
skills to search for information, whereas media literacy focuses not only on searching for
information, but also creating, sharing and evaluate information.
Further, scholars have combined information and media literacy in research studies.
When three different types of literacy (media, information, news and digital) were tested to see
which led to better identification of fake news, information literacy was the only one that
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correlated. Further, awareness of media effects and greater online access were positively
associated with media literacy among college students (Van de Vord, 2010). Clearly, with these
conceptual overlaps in place, information literacy coincides and contributes to media literacy and
is an important component to all media literacy research, including this project.
Internet Literacy/Digital Literacy
In contemporary times, it is impossible to acknowledge these concepts of media literacy
without also acknowledging the digital world. Within the context of the internet age, scholars
expanded media literacy to mean internet literacy, with a focus on teaching people to use the
internet with ease while benefiting from the tools it provides (such as Google, databases, and
social media) while also avoiding the potential dangers of the web (DiMaggio et al., 2004; Rios
et al., 2019). Kamerer’s (2013) idea of access also applies here, emphasizing people’s ability to
find information online, as well as using plug-ins to enhance a search, downloading information,
and using online databases. Internet literacy also focuses on one's ability to produce –meaning a
user’s ability to operate within the medium they are attempting to use as well as create content
that is relevant and useful to that medium (Buckingham, 2009; Kim & Yang, 2015). Digital
literacy is defined people’s ability to use all forms of digital media. The term “digital literacy”
focuses less on usage from an IT perspective, and more on critical thinking ability. For example,
once a person successfully Googles a question, they need to be able to critically filter the results
in order to access and understand verified, truthful information (Calvani et al., 2012; Glister,
1997; Ng, 2012).
Educators are concerned about both students’ digital and internet literacy abilities
because of the sheer amount of information provided on the internet, paired with students’ lack
of critical thinking and production skills (Ba et al. 2002; Leung & Lee, 2012). The concept of
media literacy must be addressed in the context of digital and internet literacy because young
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people spend a lot of time on the internet and tend to have large social media networks, yet do
not have a strong understanding of the risks and rewards of such actions (Agosto & Abbas, 2016;
Cordes, 2009; Koltay, 2011).
However, when young people are empowered through digital media literacy, they can
engage in what Hodgin et al., (2018 p. 18) call “participatory politics,” by building communities
and voicing their opinions using a digital forum (whether it be through a blog, a social media
platform, or something else) to connect and discuss with their peers. When college students were
enrolled in a media literacy course during a presidential election season, they engaged in political
expression through social media and conversations with peers and were also more likely to view
watching presidential debates as a social and enjoyable opportunity (Powers et al., 2012).
Digital media literacy is strengthened when young people feel they are in control of the story
they are telling using digital platforms, especially when they view adults, such as their teachers,
as collaborators rather than authority figures (Jimenez et al., 2021). Further, some scholars
advocate to teach media literacy within the standards of the Common Core, which outlines what
knowledge American children should retain in each grade level and are a requirement for public
schools in the United States (Common Core State Standards, 2022). These standards emphasize
the importance of creating texts, and some scholars advocate that digital and media literacy can
be taught by exploring, analyzing, and producing digital texts (Moore & Redmond, 2014;
Redmond, 2015).
News Media Literacy
Plenty of research is dedicated to news media literacy as an important category of media
literacy scholarship. Like media literacy, news media literacy focuses on educational goals
(Fleming, 2014). News media literacy focuses on fact-based knowledge and aims to create
informed, active citizens and therefore strengthen democracy (Altschull, 1995; Ashley et al.,
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2013). News media literacy is an important part of media literacy education with K-12 students,
because media literacy education should include a close analysis of news stories and an emphasis
on critical thinking (Hobbs, 2003). Mihailidis (2009) found that a news media literacy course
strengthened students’ media literacy skills. Further, students can process political news more
critically if they have received a media literacy education (Vraga & Tully, 2015). News media
literacy is increasingly important in the context of a growing public sphere that was once
controlled completely by media companies but has now grown due to social media (Mihailidis,
2012). News media literacy education has also become more prominent in recent years. For
example, the nonprofit the News Literacy Project aims to educate students “to be smart, active
consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy” through
activities such as in-classroom news media literacy workshops and teacher trainings (News
Media Literacy Project).
The Interdisciplinary Nature of Media Literacy
Media literacy is often incorporated into multiple educational disciplines to enhance the
learning experience. This is particularly true in the realm of sex education, because media can be
used to enhance comprehensive sex education (Attwood et al., 2015) as well as strengthen both
media literacy and sexual health knowledge and decision making (Pinkleton et al., 2008;
Pinkleton et al., 2012). Certain types of media use such as pornography and reality TV lead to
acceptance of objectification of women (Grabe et al., 2019), but a media literacy education can
be a useful tool to prevent young people from having a favorable view of objectification. Media
literacy can also improve other forms of health education and therefore young peoples’
knowledge of the subject. For example, a tobacco media literacy course not only enhanced
young peoples’ knowledge of both media literacy and tobacco use, but also increased awareness
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of persuasive media messaging and generated enthusiasm for the personal creation of media texts
(Chen et al., 2013).
Further, media literacy education can discourage bullying by helping young people to
identify harmful stereotypes and bullying behaviors in media messages and apply it to real life
(Walsh et al., 2014). Media literacy can also lead to a greater understanding of antiracism. When
white participants were exposed to a critical media literacy education, they were less likely to be
influenced by racial stereotypes in the media (Ramasubramanian, 2007). Following lessons in
antiracism and media literacy, middle schoolers were able to point out stereotypes in movies,
question power structures, and understand how media can give a voice to the oppressed (Drogos,
2021). Scharrer & Ramasubramanian (2015) conducted an overview of studies that focused on
media literacy education and its potential to strengthen understanding about media portrayals of
stereotypes. The authors concluded that a media literacy education enhances people’s ability to
think critically about media and media portrayals. It is clear that media literacy can enhance, and
be enhanced by, multiple other educational disciplines, therefore rendering an easier integration
of media literacy education into the classroom.
What is Media Literacy Education?
This section will identify four approaches to media literacy education. While some
approaches differ distinctly, others overlap, often supporting one another. The four approaches
identified in this section are as follows: the protectionist/traditionalist approach, the critical
media literacy approach, the production approach, and the social justice-oriented approach.
Protectionist/Traditionalist
According to this perspective, young people are in danger of falling prey to the negative
effects of media, especially “low culture” forms of media such as reality TV. In order to solve
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this, educators should only teach about forms of “high culture,” such as focusing on traditional
literacy by teaching only classic novels and plays (i.e. Shakespeare). This form of media literacy
emphasizes “high culture,” which usually coincides with the dominant standpoint (Hall, 1989),
as the only proper type of media consumption (Postman, 1985; Postman, 2006). Protectionism
stems from the 1970s, when TV was first commonplace across the United States and parents and
teachers believed it had a direct, negative influence on youth (Hobbs, 1998; Kubey, 1998;
Mendoza, 2009; Pasquier, 2001; Winn, 1977). This approach resembles the hypodermic needle
theory (Laswell, 1927), in that it assumes young people do not have the ability to critically think
and assess media for themselves and are therefore constantly in danger. Although the
hypodermic needle theory was disproved long ago (Lazarsfeld, 1968), the protectionist approach
is still popular within the United States’ media literacy education curricula (Francis, 2016;
Prewett & Stein, 2009).
Critical Media Literacy
Critical media literacy emphasizes a “student-centered, bottom-up approach” (Kellner &
Share, 2005 p. 371) in which students analyze media texts through their own experiences,
culture, and background (Luke, 1994). It is centered around five core principles: all media texts
are constructed; media messages use a particular language and students need to be taught the
difference between the denotation and connotation of words and messaging; audience decoding
and the idea that people can read past the dominant meanings and into the negotiated and
oppositional readings of media texts (Hall, 1989); that media content is often produced with
symbolic intention by media creators; and that American media is a for-profit business (Kellner
& Share, 2005).
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A critical approach emphasizes molding students into informed citizens and voters, and
therefore should teach young people how to use media to enact social change (Hyslop-
Marginson & Pinto, 2007). Some scholars argue that a civic approach to media literacy education
is necessary, and an activist and emancipatory approach must be a major component of media
literacy education, to create not only informed but also active democratic citizens (Mihailidis et
al., 2020b; Ramasubramanian & Darzabi, 2020). Recently, scholars have highlighted that media
literacy education is not immune to the systemic racism that is present in the United States
education system, and have called for critical media literacy to be taught from a
“trauma-informed equity-minded asset- based model” (Ramasubramanian et al., 2021 p. 30).
Further, in the time of the climate crisis, critical media literacy is seen as an essential
educational tool aimed at teaching students how to read media texts in order to combat
disinformation regarding climate change (Share, 2020). Ecomedia literacy, also referred to as
green media literacy, is a form of critical media literacy focused on media education and the
environment. Ecomedia literacy joins critical media literacy with ecology, and “involves
critically examining the impact of media and communications technology on the physical
environment, and explores the various ways in which media systems propagate beliefs about the
relationship between humans and the living systems that sustain them” (López, 2019). Ecomedia
literacy focuses on more than disinformation and climate change –it encourages people to think
about their media use in terms of the environment, such as the mining of conflict minerals for
smartphones and the carbon emissions created from the electricity used to power devices (López,
2019; López, 2020).
Ecomedia literacy encourages media educators and researchers to integrate the
environment into media literacy as a core principle (López, 2014). Some critical media literacy
scholars have done so, such as Beach, Share & Allen (2017), whose book guides English
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Language Arts teachers through the process of teaching about climate change through media
analysis and creation, focusing on critical media literacy’s student-centered approach. Rauch
(2018) explores the concept of “slow media,” aimed at mindful media habits, such as
unplugging, to encourage environmental sustainability, which is consistent with Moeller et al.
(2012)’s findings that when young people unplug, they become more self-aware and
understanding of how technology affects their lives. Ecomedia literacy is gaining popularity as
the pressure of the climate crisis becomes greater with each passing day. López (2014; 2019;
2020) has laid promising foundations for this area of research that will surely continue to be
explored at length.
Production Approach
Some scholars believe media literacy is not achieved until students have experience
producing their own media content, thus empowering them to use media for their own
advancement (Cheung, 2009; Hobbs, 1998; Norton & Hathaway, 2010). The production
approach acknowledges that teaching students to have agency with media creation allows young
people to create and produce their own narratives while also advancing their communication,
collaboration, and critical thinking skills (Kearney, 2013; Goble, 2016). Scholars view media
production as an area in which young people can learn about both creation and conceptual
elements of media through familiar skills such as writing and lesser-known skills such as
animating and videography (Dezuanni, 2015).
Media literacy researchers advocate for the production approach because it can lead
young people to political and civic participation (Garcia et al., 2021; Kahne et al., 2012; Marchi
& Clark, 2021), assist with all forms of literacy (Hobbs, 2011), generate interest in news media
and current events (Hobbs et al., 2013; Mihailidis, 2008) as well as interest in careers in media
and journalism (Hobbs et al., 2013). Some scholars have explored the concept of multimodal
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literacy in education, which expands beyond just the written word to productive skills such as
visual and audial media (Anderson, 2013). Kerr (2020) utilized multimodality in workshops
within the juvenile justice system. The practitioners and the participants were able to create a
community around production and self-expression. Vasudevan et al. (2010) found that when fifth
graders are able to take a multimodal, productive approach with classroom learning, they can tell
their own stories with more individual agency.
Tyner (1991) introduced an “arts-based approach” that asserts that students should be
taught how to use media to express themselves and create art. This approach has a learning-by
doing philosophy that acknowledges the layered and sometimes divisive nature of technology,
but works to help students be creative and expressive through technology instead (Tyner, 2014).
In the time of the climate crisis, a production approach emphasizes the teaching of activist-
centered media production to help curb the effects of climate change (Share, 2020; López, 2014).
Social Justice-Oriented Approach
In recent years, media literacy scholars have emphasized the need for media literacy
scholarship and efforts to devote special attention to media literacy education as a tool for social
justice. For example, social justice has become a pillar of critical media literacy. Funk et al.
(2016) stated that the aim of critical media literacy was to create social justice-oriented citizens.
In newer critical media literacy work, scholars have argued that a critical media literacy
education can empower underrepresented groups and bring about a multicultural, fair democracy
(Kellner & Share, 2019).
However, social justice scholars question if the critical approach to media literacy
education can recognize and provide adequate resources for marginalized groups and
communities (Mihailidis et al. 2021b). The social justice-oriented approach focuses on the
understanding that “systemic racism as systemic trauma and normative whiteness as dominant
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ideology are embedded in the U.S education and media institutions” (Ramasubramanian et al.,
2021 p. 29). This approach recognizes that most media literacy research is conducted by
researchers and participants from WEIRD countries (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich,
and Democratic) (Alper et al., 2016, Henrich et al., 2010) and that minoritized people may
develop internalized racism due to their exposure to white-centered media content (Feagin &
Cobas, 2008; Ramasubramanian et al., 2021). Therefore, the social justice-oriented approach
focuses on media literacy education from an antiracist perspective. This approach calls on media
literacy educators to do more than just acknowledge the presence of racism in both media texts
and education, and to instead disrupt the hegemonic, white-centered narratives to uplift and
support marginalized and minoritized students (McArthur, 2016; Ramasubramanian et al. 2021).
Mihailidis et al. (2021a) call for media literacy to be taught through transformative media
pedagogies. Borrowing from bell hooks’ idea of transgression (hooks, 2014), a transformative
media pedagogy focuses on students using available resources (media or otherwise) to work to
eradicate systems of oppression that exist in their communities. Through a transformative
approach, media literacy education comes from what the authors refer to as a “culture of care”
(Mihailidis et al., 2021a p. 19) which focuses on collaborative work in which group members
recognize their privilege and status to create a collaborative and educational space through media
and media literacy.
Media Literacy Education Policies in the United States
As the benefits and consequences of the digital age become clear, law and policy makers
have become increasingly invested in creating policies centered on media literacy education
(Mihailidis et al., 2021b). Therefore, it is important to understand the current media literacy
education climate, because young people in the United States have received varying levels of
media literacy education depending on where they live. This variance could play an important
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role in how youth perceive media literacy education. This section briefly details efforts made to
mandate media literacy education at the federal level, as well as a summary of individual states’
current media literacy education laws and policies. A detailed table explaining each states’ laws
can be found in Appendix A.
The Federal Level
At the time of this writing, there is no federal law mandating media literacy education.
There was a media literacy education bill introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar in 2019 called
the Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act. This act was aimed at ensuring that the
American people become media literate at a young age, starting in kindergarten and continuing
until senior year of high school. The goal of this legislation was to create a public that is able to
make informed decisions about voting, health, and purchasing; to protect themselves from
propaganda (including election and foreign propaganda); and to enhance critical thinking skills
as a whole (Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act, 2019). Unfortunately, this bill failed to
go to a vote in the House of Representatives, and it has not moved since October 19, 2019, so
there is little hope it will become law (Media Literacy Now).
The State Level
Currently, there are 14 states with media literacy education laws, and although this
indicates progress, many of these laws favor the protectionist approach to media (Francis, 2016;
Prewett & Stein, 2009). These states are as follows: Illinois, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Ohio,
Utah, Washington, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New
Mexico, and Rhode Island (U.S. Media Literacy and Policy Update, 2021). Further, 16 states
have media literacy bills, meaning legislation about media literacy has been introduced, but not
signed into law. These states are as follows: New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland,
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Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska,
Montana, Arizona, Oregon and Hawai’i (U.S. Media Literacy and Policy Report, 2020). With
these 16 bills, there are 30 states (60%) that either have or are considering mandating media
literacy education in K-12 schools. Clearly, media literacy is a popular issue throughout the
United States, and with curricula still in the development stage, research about young adults’
perceptions of media literacy is imperative at this time.
Media Literacy and Media Literacy Education with Young Adults
There are numerous studies dedicated to researching young people and media literacy.
Researching media literacy with young people is important because this demographic is often the
target of media literacy educational initiatives (Mihailidis et al., 2021b). Therefore, this type of
research directly benefits young people and their educators, making young people ideal research
participants, especially in qualitative research, in which research should benefit the community
that is studied (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). With this background established, prior media
literacy research studies and their findings will be discussed at length in the following pages.
Young Peoples’ Media Skills
Many studies have evaluated young peoples’ media abilities and skills to determine what
they know about the media, and what they need to learn. Although “skills” are only a facet of
media literacy education, this prescriptive approach is often used because it allows scholars,
educators, and lawmakers the ability to understand what is missing from young peoples’ media
literacy skill set. This type of research has been conducted in various ways. From a quantitative
standpoint, Arke & Primack (2009) found that media literacy ability is positively correlated with
critical thinking ability. Another quantitative study found that news media literacy is not
correlated with current events knowledge (Ashley et al., 2013). Further, young people can easily
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identify advertisements but struggle to identify public relations releases, and they lack the basic
skill of evaluating online news sources (Ashey & Fasbinder, 2012; McGrew et al., 2018). These
findings indicate that media literacy should go beyond a protectionist approach and integrate
critical thinking as well.
Another skill-oriented study found that education level and parental income has little
effect on media literacy, that students who are open to varying perspectives are better able to
evaluate news, and that children with better grades are more media literate (Metzger et al., 2015).
Researchers have also found that young people who believe credible news is important and
valuable are better able to determine credibility than those who do not, and that those who
generally trust what they see on the internet are not good at assessing credibility. Interestingly,
research has found that young people who take credibility training are more likely to believe
hoax websites (Metzger et al., 2015; Ngryen et al., 2019), pointing to potential flaws in the
current media literacy teaching methods.
Peoples’ Perceptions of Media Literacy Education
Research that has focused mainly on this component of media literacy education are
important bases for this thesis, because this thesis seeks to expand on the knowledge about young
people’s perceptions of media literacy education. Ackayoglu & Daggol (2019) assessed young
peoples’ perceptions of their own media literacy levels, focusing on students’ willingness and
ability to use media for foreign language (in this case English) learning. The findings indicate
that there is little difference in perceived media literacy levels between women and men, that
most students view the internet as the most important tool for media consumption, and that
students found mass media useful when learning English as a foreign language. Importantly, the
effects of media literacy initiatives vary, depending on the participants’ identity and background
such as their age and gender (Eintraub et al., 2010; Rosenkoetter et al., 2004; Scharrer, 2005;
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Scharrer, 2006; Vooijs & van der Voort, 1993; Webb et al., 2010). It should be noted that most
of the above studies focused on anti-violence and anti-bullying initiatives, a popular topic in
media literacy scholarship.
A national, quantitative study conducted in Australia examined if adults value learning
media literacy, comparing people’s motivational values such as self-direction, power, and
security (Schwartz, 1992) with fourteen different outcomes associated with media literacy.
These outcomes included, for example, “to know how to stay protected from scams and
predators online,” “to use media to increase your understanding of different cultural groups,”
and “to think about and reflect on your own media use.” The researchers found that these
fourteen outcomes were important to the participants, but some were considered much more
important than others. The most important outcome was “to know how to stay protected from
scams and predators online,” and the least important were self-promotional outcomes, such as
“to use media to influence people.” The researchers also found that people’s media literacy
outcome preference correlated with the values they found most important. This study contributes
to the understanding of public perception of media literacy, however in a different country and
with adults of all ages (Chambers et al., 2022).
Further, De Leyn et al. (2021) researched teenagers’ perceptions of media literacy
education, discourse and initiatives in Flanders, Belgium. The research was conducted through a
qualitative, constructivist lens via semi-structured interviews with participants aged between 16
and 18-years-old. The researchers found that teenagers think they need guidance through media
literacy education, but they are particular about who teaches them. For example, they want
someone young and tech savvy, as opposed to someone older. They also believed that those
younger than them needed more media literacy education and assistance than they did. The
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research presented in this thesis partially replicates this study, but in the vastly different context
of the United States.
Although the above research is greatly beneficial to media literacy and media literacy
education, young American adults’ understanding and conceptualization of the subject should be
further explored. Further, scholars have yet to study young American adults’ reflections of media
literacy education following prolonged remote and hybrid learning due to the COVID-19
pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The above information as well as the identified research
gaps lead to my first two research questions:
RQ1: How do young adults define and conceptualize media literacy?
RQ2: What knowledge and skills do young adults associate with media literacy?
Before and After a Media Literacy Course
Many studies have focused on young people’s media literacy skill sets before and after
taking a media literacy course. One of the more notable examples is the Stony Brook University
study, in which students took a news media literacy course at Stony Brook. The author
concluded that students found insider information about journalism to be useful and were
engaged throughout the course (Fleming, 2014). Other research on the effects after a
comprehensive media literacy course show that young people have a higher print reading
comprehension, can analyze the main ideas of media texts, and analyze the points of view
missing from a media text (Hobbs, 2007). Following a news media course, scholars have found
that those who take a news media course have a higher level of news media literacy than those
who did not, but that age and overall education level has a greater impact on news media literacy
than the media literacy course itself (Kleemans & Eggink, 2016).
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Further, people who took a news media literacy course are less likely to perceive a story
on a controversial topic as biased than they were before the course began (Vraga et al., 2009).
Researchers have also found that young people are able to apply the concepts they had learned
during a media literacy course about the media ratings system to offer up a critique of the ratings
system and its practices (Scharrer et al., 2020). Researchers have also focused on young peoples’
knowledge after taking a media literacy course that focused on stereotypes and violence in media
and found that young adults were able to discuss the unfavorable effects of violence and
stereotypes in media following the course and that young people had stronger views about
violence in the media and resolved to watch violent media less often (Fingar & Jolls, 2014;
Sekarasih et al., 2016). Although these studies are worthwhile to the media literacy discipline,
they do not focus on the students’ personal reflections and takeaways following the courses.
Because media literacy education is becoming more prevalent in the United States, (Mihalidis,
2021b) it is important to understand students’ perceptions of this media literacy instruction.
Therefore, the research seeks to answer the following research question:
RQ3: What are young adults’ perceptions of media literacy education in the classroom?
Now that media literacy and media literacy education has been defined in-depth, and the
research questions for this thesis have been presented, the following section will provide detailed
information about the methodology used to conduct this research.
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Chapter Three: Methodology
This methodology section details how the research for this thesis was conducted. First,
the research approach and research design are discussed, in order to provide information and an
explanation about the worldview implemented for this thesis. The following section provides a
description of the participant sample. The third section focuses on the recruitment process, the
fourth section on data collection, and the fifth section on data analysis. The final section is about
the multiple methods used to achieve trustworthiness and validity, which are: rich, thick
description; data triangulation; discrepant information; member checking; reliability; and an
acknowledgement of the role of the researcher.
Research Approach and Research Design
This thesis adheres to a qualitative approach rooted in the constructivist worldview.
Qualitative research puts the researcher in direct contact with their participants, relies on multiple
open-ended questions, and requires the researcher to understand data from the participants’
perspective (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The constructivist approach emerges from
hermeneutics, the study of meaning (Mertens, 2020). Therefore, constructivism focuses on the
idea that people make meaning of the world based on their personal experiences and are
influenced by their communities. All individuals view the world subjectively based on these
lived, socially constructed experiences (Brennen, 2017; Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Lincoln et
al., 2011; Schwandt, 2000). Because constructivism acknowledges the subjectivity of
individuals’ views, the approach also emphasizes that there are numerous understandings of the
same topic. Therefore, a constructivist researcher focuses on the complexity of these
understandings and each participant’s individual perspectives on the subject. This leads to broad,
open-ended interview questions so that the researcher can interpret each participant’s unique
worldview. These views are shaped by the participant’s personal background, including their
35
nationality, race, sex, gender class, sexual orientation, as well as their personal values.
Constructivism acknowledges that participants’ understandings are not “discovered, but rather
created; it exists only in the time/space framework in which it is generated” (Lincoln & Guba,
2013 p. 40).
This thesis as a whole aims not only to focus on one specific type of media literacy and
its benefits and drawbacks, but rather media literacy as a broad, disparate concept, in order to
better understand young peoples’ relationship with the topic. Chapter Two provides varying
viewpoints through which media literacy is studied, taught, and understood; and the main goal of
this research project is to understand how the participants themselves make sense of this topic.
This thesis focuses solely on the constructivist approach because the main goal is to understand
young peoples’ perspectives of media literacy education. This research aims to better understand
my participants’ varying, subjective understandings about the topic of media literacy. Therefore,
I recruited and interviewed students from public, private, charter, and technical schools. The
questions I posed were open-ended to ensure that I was able to fully understand the participants’
views. I also gained insights into the participants’ backgrounds both with a qualifying
questionnaire as well as through introductory questions in the interview process.
Sample
Since I am focusing on media literacy education at the K-12 level, I interviewed 18-
years-olds and 19-year-olds. I purposefully focused on this population for multiple reasons, the
first being because 85% of adults in the United States graduate high school by the age of 18
(National Center for Education Statistics). Therefore, the majority of the participants have
completed most, if not all of their K -12 education, thus giving them the ability to reflect on most
of their K-12 educational experience. Because the majority of 18 and 19-year-olds have nearly
completed their K-12 education, they had the ability to reflect on the media literacy education (or
36
lack thereof) that they received, and they therefore gave comprehensive answers about what they
would prefer and expect from a media literacy education. Further, some of the participants had
started their undergraduate college degrees. These participants were able to recall what they had
learned in K- 12 and relate the knowledge and skills they had gained to their college education.
This provided another layer of insight, because these participants were able to reflect on what
types of media literacy education (or lack thereof) they found helpful (or unhelpful) at this next
level of their education. For these reasons, my participants had insight into media literacy
education and how they believe it should be taught. After 20 interviews I reached the point of
saturation, meaning I was beginning to hear many of the same sentiments and ideas from my
participants (Birks & Mills, 2015; Given, 2016).
Recruitment
Before any recruiting materials were shared or any participant was contacted, I obtained
Exempt authorization from Syracuse University’s Institutional Review Board. I recruited
participants in a number of ways. First, I asked personal connections, including Syracuse
University faculty and staff, to connect me with any 18 and 19-year-old high school students
they may know. Further, my mother, who used to work at a high school, asked teachers she
knows to give my interview information to their students. I also asked friends who were teachers
or who have siblings/relatives who are 18 or 19-years-old to share my recruitment information.
My father, who teaches at the university level, also shared my recruitment information with his
18 and 19-year-old students. I utilized my own social media platforms (e.g., Instagram,
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) to recruit participants, and I asked my friends and family to
share the recruitment information on their platforms as well. Once I began to conduct interviews,
I implemented snowball sampling by asking those participants to recruit their friends.
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My recruitment materials included a flier that states the purpose of my study, what type
of participants I was looking for (18 and 19-year-olds) and my contact information (see
Appendix D). My other recruitment material (sent or posted along with the flier) was a Qualtrics
qualifying questionnaire (see Appendix C). To ensure I recruited the right population, all
potential participants were presented with this brief Qualtrics questionnaire, to ensure that they
were the proper age for my study. I also used this instrument to ask more practical questions,
such as their names, the type of school they attend, what type of school they attend (public,
private or other), their email address or phone number (they could choose to be contacted by text
or email), and their preferred pronouns. I also asked participants to identify further information,
such as race and ethnicity. Asking for this information ahead of time allowed me to stick within
the time parameters (45 minutes to an hour) promised on the recruitment flier, while also helping
to relieve pressure that may come along with answering personal identity questions, such as
participants’ sexual orientation.
Data Collection
My primary form of data collection was semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Qualitative
research often requires face-to-face interaction, with the researcher at the center of the data
collection in order to observe and make meaning of the participants’ views (Creswell &
Creswell, 2018). These interviews were intended to be a conversation between myself and the
interviewee (Brinkman & Kvale, 2015), and I prepared questions in advance to maintain a level
of uniformity throughout the interviews. However, a semi-structured interview style allows for
flexibility in case the interviewee provides information that is unanticipated yet still relevant and
helpful for the topic of media literacy education (Bhattacharya, 2017). Further, semi-structured
interviews are the most sensible option for my research, as participants were able to recall their
38
experiences with media literacy education in high school and reflect on what they find useful and
relevant to themselves and others. For the complete interview topic guide, refer to Appendix B.
I conducted interviews via Zoom so that I was able to connect with participants from
different areas of the United States. Because qualitative research emphasizes multiple forms of
data collection (Creswell & Creswell, 2018), I recorded both the audio and video of the Zoom
interviews. To ensure that I was still able to interact with my participants face to face, I asked
that all participants turned on their camera. All participants did so but one who experienced a
technical difficulty. Further, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is ongoing at the time of
this research, Zoom provides a safe and healthy alternative to an in-person interview. The
intended interview time was between 45 minutes and an hour. Ultimately, the average interview
time was 51 minutes long, the shortest interview was 21 minutes, and the longest interview was
an hour and 45 minutes. I recorded field notes in my research notebook throughout each
interview. Following each interview, I downloaded the Zoom recording in order to create a
transcript to begin the data analysis process.
Data Analysis
Although qualitative data analysis happens throughout the research process (Creswell &
Creswell, 2018), it is important to clearly state my analysis procedures for my data collection.
Following each interview, I uploaded interview recording into an AI software called Descript,
which generated a transcript. Because AI is not perfect, I listened to the interview and corrected
typos in the AI transcript. During this editing process, I began my inductive analysis by
identifying certain patterns or categories as they emerged. At this stage in the analysis, I tracked
these patterns and categories manually by typing them in a Word document and annotating as
necessary. Physically seeing and annotating information is a helpful part of my analysis process,
and it prepared me for the more in-depth analysis to come (Tracy, 2019).
39
The formal coding process went as follows: First, I coded using NVivo coding software.
During the first round of coding, I highlighted large segments of text to create categories, or
codes, of data, labeling each using an in vivo term. This first stage of coding enabled me to begin
identifying patterns that emerged throughout several interviews. By using in vivo terms, I was
able to familiarize myself with actual quotes from participants and apply them to the codes. For
example, as media use began to emerge as a pattern, I used the quote from a participant, “it's
knowing how to use media” to create a code. These codes were broader, generalizable
understandings of the data aimed at better understanding the topics that were frequently
discussed throughout the interviews (Saldaña, 2016). My codes are fell into three categories –
expected codes, codes of unusual or conceptual interest and surprising codes (Saldaña, 2020).
Expected codes were codes that had emerged in past research that had also emerged in this
research. Codes of unusual or conceptual interest identified ideas that would be particularly
interesting to the audience of this research, which includes educators and policy makers as well
as researchers. Surprising codes were codes that I did not foresee at the beginning of my
research. There were a few codes that were not assigned and in vivo term, and for these codes, I
used both description coding, which are codes that “reflect a participant’s values, attitudes and
beliefs representing [their] perspectives or worldview” (Saldaña, 2016 p. 131) and evaluation
coding, which “assigns judgement about the merit, worth or significance of programs or policy
(Saldaña, 2016 p. 140).
I also wrote a description of each code in NVivo. Throughout the coding process, I cross-
referenced the codes’ description with the quotes I had attached to the codes to ensure they were
still aligned. If a quote I had attributed to a code did not line up with the description, I would
remove and place it with a different code, if necessary. I also read through the codes, their
descriptions, and the content of the codes after each interview was coded to ensure I was not
40
duplicating the same sentiment in two separate codes. During this round of data analysis, I wrote
research memos to capture my thoughts and draw connections between codes that could emerge
as themes. This was especially important because this coding process occurred over the span of
days, and I did not want to forget important information between coding sessions.
I then borrowed from the phenomenological approach of horizontalization, during which
I identified significant sentences that provided a comprehensive understanding of my
participants’ perceptions of media literacy education. These sentences were quotes from
participants that I had previously coded. These sentences helped me identify the most important
and reoccurring sentiments throughout the 20 interviews. Horizontalization allowed me to give
value to what each participant said, while also focusing on the phenomenon of young people’s
perceptions of media literacy education. While phenomenology was not used throughout the
research process, horizontalization allowed me to approach the participants’ perceptions of
media literacy education from a holistic viewpoint, while also continuing to relate the statements
back to the research questions. I then compiled these significant statements into clusters of
meaning to create themes. Also at this stage, I merged multiple codes into one theme, and
removed codes that did not have enough information to produce a theme as well as codes that did
not relate to the research questions. I continued to write research memos during this process,
because this process also took multiple days, and it was imperative for me to be able to track my
thought process and understanding of the themes as I created them. At the conclusion of this
process, I had derived nine themes. To ensure each theme was unique and aligned with a
research question, as well as to better contextualize what the participants experienced, I wrote a
textual description of each theme. This textual description served as an aide as I wrote about
each theme in the “Results” section.
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Trustworthiness and Validity
As is true with most of qualitative research, the researcher (me) is the key component for
data collection and data analysis. Because of this, it is important that I establish trustworthiness
and validity throughout the research, using multiple forms of evaluation (House, 2010; Patton,
2002; Quartaroli, 2012). Validity serves as a tool to verify the accuracy of a researchers’
findings. Multiple validity strategies were applied throughout the research process to ensure my
findings are accurate, and they are as follows: rich, thick description; data triangulation;
discrepant information; member checking; and reliability.
Rich, Thick Description
When describing my themes in the “results” section, I use rich, thick description with
multiple participants’ perspectives included. These descriptions make the themes believable and
understandable to the reader. These descriptions are especially important in qualitative,
constructivist research like mine because they reveal details about how a participant views the
world. Rich, thick description shows that the researcher (me) has spent a prolonged time
speaking to participants about their perceptions of media literacy education, demonstrating that I
have a greater understanding about young peoples’ perceptions of media literacy than a “tourist”
in this subject would acquire (Leeds-Hurwitz, 2019).
Data Triangulation
Data triangulation occurs when multiple sources are used to validate the presence of a
singular theme, proving that there is robust data supporting that theme (Denzin, 2017; Hussein,
2009). All of my themes were established using multiple participants’ perspectives, thus using
data triangulation to confirm the validity of the themes.
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Discrepant Information
When applicable, I provided discrepant information that negates the theme. This is
important to constructivist, qualitative research, because not every participant views the world
the same, and therefore, not every participant will identify which each theme (Brennen, 2017;
Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Lincoln & Guba, 2013; Lincoln et al., 2011; Schwandt, 2000). For
example, the theme “Learning Media Literacy” describes a common sentiment among
participants that their teachers cannot effectively teach them media literacy. However, three
participants thought that their teachers were able to teach them about media literacy, and their
reasoning is described in detail to provide discrepant information.
Member Checking
I also engaged in member checking by showing a semi-polished version of the results
section to my participants. At the end of each interview, I asked the participants if they would
like to see a copy of the results section before my thesis defense. Those who said that they would
were emailed a copy. I told these participants that I was open to any questions, concerns, or
feedback they wanted to provide (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Reliability
In order to ensure that my research process was reliable, I used several procedures
throughout the study. As mentioned previously, each transcript was generated by Descript AI. I
then played through each transcription, correcting spelling and wording mistakes the AI had
made. This helped ensure the participants’ sentiments were correctly presented in the “results”
section. I also ensured that the codes maintained the same meaning throughout the coding
process. I did this by creating a description of each code Nvivo, and regularly reviewing the
contents of each code. Further, I created a qualitative codebook, which contained the names of
43
each code, its definition and the locations in which the code appeared (the specific interview and
the minute number) (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Role of the Researcher
Finally, I of course hold biases that I must acknowledge to present a trustworthy account
of the research. As is necessary with any qualitative research, I must recognize that I, as the
person in the center of the research, hold certain beliefs and subjective worldviews that I must
acknowledge to truthfully and transparently present my findings (Mertens, 2020). My reflexive
statement is as follows: First, I am passionate about the subject of media literacy. While at
Syracuse University, I researched media literacy with college students as part of a graduate
course, I also researched media literacy in the television industry for a research assistantship, and
taught media literacy to students as a teaching assistant. Beyond that I have led media literacy
workshops for high schoolers as part of a Fulbright grant. I myself have a media literacy
education. Although I was not formally educated in the subject before college, I have since
obtained undergraduate degrees in both Public Relations and English, and am now pursuing a
master’s degree in media studies. Secondly, I have my own opinions about how media literacy
education should be taught, as well as the United States’ media literacy laws and policies. Third,
I must recognize that all my participants are younger than me and in their teens. Therefore I, as a
24-year-old, may have appeared as an authority figure, thus altering the way the participants
acted and spoke around me. Fourth, my view of the world and my treatment within it is based on
my nationality, race, sex, gender, class, and sexual orientation. I am a heterosexual, white
cisgender woman from an upper-middle class household located in the United States. My lens of
the word will be different from my participants, as each person has their own view of the world
based on their unique subjective viewpoints.
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Chapter Four: Results
This chapter details the results of the in-depth interviews. Some of the results are
surprising, while others align with past research. The results will be explained through themes.
The first theme provides insights into how participants navigate the media landscape. Although
this theme does not fall squarely under a research question, it provides context for young
people’s understanding of media literacy. Following the first theme, each theme is placed under
the research question with which it aligns. Following the coding process, nine themes emerged
from the data. These themes are as follows: (1) New Generation, New Communication, New
Education (2) Reading and Comprehension (3) Media Use (4) Computer Kids (5) “We Were the
Guinea Pigs” (6) Social Media Addiction (7) I want to Learn Media in School (8) Learning
Media Literacy and (9) Protectionist Learning. The results exposed many convergent responses,
perhaps because both the subject of media and the subject education are areas with which each
participant has engaged for most of their lives.
This chapter begins with an overview of participant demographics. Then, each theme is
described and explained.
Participant Demographics
As stated in Chapter Three, several avenues of recruitment were used to find participants.
Since the inclusion criterion was for 18- or 19-year-olds, recruitment was difficult at times, but
20 participants were ultimately recruited over the span of four months. Prior to the interview,
participants entered their demographic information into the Qualtrics recruitment survey, found
in Appendix C. This gave participants a chance to explain their identities as thoroughly as they
wanted to, and it also gave participants the option to choose not to answer demographic
questions if they were not comfortable doing so. Participants were asked about their pronouns
45
and their sexual orientation, as well as their race and ethnicity. It is important to note that while
the participants have intersectional identities, and 11 participants have minoritized identities, the
majority of participants identified their race as white. While these participants did have varying
backgrounds overall, the number of participants who identified as white is a limitation to this
study. Participants were also asked to name the states where they received their high school
education. However, because this research is about K-12, participants were asked about that
states they lived in for their elementary and middle school education during the interview
process. Most participants attended K-12 in New York or Pennsylvania, due to heavy
recruitment in these two states because of the researcher’s ties to both areas.
Lastly, participants were asked about the type of school they attended during K-12. Out
of the 20 participants, 16 attended public school at some point in their lives. Participants also
attended Catholic school (Catholic schools are private, for-profit schools in the U.S.) charter
school (charter schools are funded by tax dollars but are independently owned and operated by
interest groups), and technical school. In the case of this study, the technical school that
participants attended is funded by the school districts in one Central Pennsylvanian county. This
school offers trade courses, so that qualifying students graduate with a trade certificate (such as
veterinary assistant or medical assistant). Students at this school also take academic classes and
this school is only available for students in grades nine through 12.
It is important to reiterate that these demographics are self-identified, and were not chosen or
written by the author, but by the participants themselves. Table One provides details about
participants’ demographics and introduces them by their pseudonym. Table Two provides
information about the type of school each participant attended and the states where they received
46
their K-12 education. Each participant was given the opportunity to choose their own pseudonym
at the end of the interview. A pseudonym was chosen by the researcher for those who opted out.
Table 1
Participant Demographics
Name Gender Identity Race/Ethnicity Sexual Orientation
Maya woman Black, African
American
Queer
Isabella woman white, Sicilian Heterosexual
Brittney woman white, Israeli-
American, Jewish
Bisexual
Henry man white, Irish and Italian Heterosexual
Olivia woman Chose not to answer Chose not to answer
Grace woman white, Hispanic Heterosexual
Dakota woman mixed race (Black,
white), French Creole
Chose not to answer
Cillian man white, American Heterosexual
Angelica woman white, Italian Bisexual
Valerie woman mixed race (Black,
white, Asian), Korean
Heterosexual
Madelyn woman white, Latina Heterosexual
Sophie woman white, Caucasian Heterosexual
47
Barry man white, Eastern
European
Heterosexual
Charlotte woman white Heterosexual
Nora woman white, Ashkenazi
Jewish
Heterosexual
Chloe woman white, Caucasian Heterosexual
Alice woman Black, African
American
Chose not to answer
John man white, Scandinavian
and French
Heterosexual
Name Gender Identity Race/Ethnicity Sexual Orientation
Antonio Non-binary white Homosexual
Kayon woman Black, African
American
Heterosexual
48
Table 2
Participant school types and states
Name State(s) they lived
in during K-12
Type of K-12 school(s)
attended
Maya New York Charter school
Isabella Pennsylvania Public school, Catholic school
Brittney New York Public school
Henry New Jersey Public school
Olivia Pennsylvania Public school
Grace Pennsylvania Public school,
technical school
Dakota Pennsylvania Public school
Cillian
New Jersey Public school
Angelica New York Public school
Valerie Pennsylvania, North Carolina Public school
Madelyn Pennsylvania Public school,
technical school
Sophie Pennsylvania Catholic school
Antonio New York Public school
Kayon New York Charter school
Barry Ohio Catholic school
Charlotte Pennsylvania Public school
49
Name State(s) they lived
in during K-12
Type of K-12 school(s)
attended
Nora Pennsylvania, Arkansas Public school
Chloe Pennsylvania Public school, technical
school
Alice Pennsylvania Public school, technical
school
John New York Public school
RQ1: How do young adults define and conceptualize media literacy?
This research question is particularly interesting because each participant had the
opportunity to define media literacy towards the beginning of the interview. The definitions did
vary, which signifies a distinction in media literacy knowledge among participants –not so much
that some participants know more than others, but that among the participants there were
different media literacy education opportunities (some did not have any at all). Most of the
definitions fell into two major categories: (1) reading and comprehension and (2) media use. It is
also important to note that the state(s) in which participants received their K-12 education as well
as the type of institution they attended did not appear to have an obvious effect on their media
literacy knowledge. Rather, those who were exposed to media literacy education during their
time in K-12 appeared to be more knowledgeable about the subject of media literacy than those
who were not.
Theme One: New Generation, New Communication, New Education
As with any generation, Generation Z has its own culture and individuals make their own
social rules that differ from those who came before them. Of course, media plays a large role in
this culture, because it is so intertwined in daily life. This theme mainly talks about how the
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young people interviewed for this thesis navigate their media landscape. It is important to
understand how young people are using and navigating media, so that researchers and educators
are equipped to teach these young people things that are relevant to them and their daily lives, as
is supposed to be the main goal of education in the United States (Dewey, 1934).
As mentioned earlier, these young people are engaged and active on social media. That
finding does not come as a surprise. What was surprising is how these participants used social
media. All 20 participants said they create and publish social media posts. Of these 20
participants, 17 identified social media posts as their main form of media creation (as opposed to
media creation such video production, podcasting, graphic design, etc.). For most participants,
posting was a social activity that they did to update their network of followers about their life
events. Cillian, who recently graduated from high school, is now part of his university’s ROTC
program. Cillian described his social posting habits this way: “Like I'll make a [Instagram] post
or something like that about like something cool I did. Like uh, probably my most recent post is
about like training I did for ROTC, which was really cool.” For these young people, creating
social media content was about showcasing unique events that were special to them. Grace used
TikTok to showcase memories of her senior year. “So I think there was a one that my friend and
I are doing where it's little clips of us throughout our senior year. Um, so like when we got like
piercings done, um, we're probably gonna make one at prom, make one at graduation, that kind
of thing.” Participants like Grace and Cillian are using social media to connect and share their
lives with others, while also documenting important memories for themselves.
However, not every participant was as willing to post on social media. Angelica talked
about the negative effects of posting on apps like Instagram: “I feel like it's a lot of pressure to
post. Um, see the likes, like stuff like that. Like if I- it has to be like the best picture. Everyone
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else, on like Instagram, they go on like feeds of like, everything looking like aesthetically
pleasing. It's just more stressful than anything.” Although participants had varying opinions
about creating and sharing social media posts, all 20 of them posted, at least occasionally, on
social media. Some of those who posted often on social media expressed the desire to be media
literate, so that they could properly navigate their various social media platforms. For some of
the participants who did not post often, they felt as though they were not media literate enough to
navigate the social media landscape, claiming that most of their peers were far more media-
savvy than they were.
Young people also have a unique way of communicating using the social media app
Snapchat. Of the 20 participants, 14 talked about using Snapchat as a texting app, as opposed to
SMS or iMessage. Snapchat is a unique social media platform, on which users can send photos to
individuals or groups, but these photos disappear immediately after the receiver views them.
Users can also post “stories,” which are photos that stay up for 24 hours and can be viewed by all
of the user’s Snapchat friends. Users can also send text messages to individuals and groups, and
these also disappear immediately after the receiver views them, unless one person in the message
thread saves the text (Snapchat Support). Participants, such as Madelyn, identified ease of use as
the main reason behind using Snapchat as a messaging app: “Snapchat is easier, like, because it
can be quick. And I could like send a video really fast instead of calling you or take a picture and
just send it instead of –and it doesn't save. So, I feel like it leaves less of like, it takes up less
space in my phone pretty much.” Snapchat as a quick and easy way to connect was a main draw
for participants, especially because Snapchat does not require users to share their phone
numbers, just their Snapchat-specific usernames. Olivia described the “informal” manner of the
app as a way avoid awkward situations:
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I definitely think like, there's like some weird stigma with texts. Like I would much rather
communicate on texts, but I feel like whenever you ask, like, ‘Ooh, can I get your
number?’ Like people just like automatically assume like you're hitting on them. Whereas
like Snapchat is like very informal.
The idea that asking for someone’s phone number can create awkward situations perhaps
represents a boundary that Generation Z has set for themselves. During a time when young
people are constantly surrounded and connected because of social, Snapchat may serve as a way
for young people to protect their space.
The participants also demonstrated these boundaries by using Snapchat’s private story
feature. Of the 20 participants, eight talked about their use of private stories. This feature allows
users to select who sees their posts, so that users can limit their viewers to friends only (Snapchat
Support). Participants like Antonio chose to post more personal information on these private
stories than what they would on a regular story: “I'm a big fan of posting on like my private
story. It's like, I don't know, it's almost kind of like a journal, but it's fun, it's up for the day, it's
just crazy.” These participants used private Snapchat stories to inform their close friends about
their lives in an interactive, but more intimate manner. Alice spoke about how she created a
private story specifically for her 18
th
birthday party, so that the people at the party could see the
pictures and the memories they made. She then made a public post about her birthday party that
only included pictures in which she and her friends looked “good.” Alice explained this
dichotomy:
My private stories are for like the people that, like, I know won't judge them for being
goofy. And then my public story is like the stuff where we actually look nice and we'll
53
kind of just be sharing it to everybody. Like ‘I had a wonderful birthday party and I want
all of you to know that these are my friends.’
Snapchat seems to serve as an “all-in-one” social media platform where participants feel
connected to their peers, but that they are able to control the level of connection based on what
they were comfortable with. As mentioned in the introduction of this theme, this observation
may not tie perfectly back to media literacy. However, it is important to understand what types of
media young people are engaging with the most, and why they are doing so, to teach media
literacy education in a way that young people are most likely to resonate with and understand.
Theme Two: Reading and Comprehension
In their responses, half of the participants focused on reading and comprehending the
media, making this the most popular way to define media literacy. Participants chose this type of
definition because of the “literacy” portion of the term. For example, Angelica said “Literacy to
me is like reading, writing. Like reading and stuff like that. So, online version of that, I guess?”
This definition gets to the core of media literacy, for which the ultimate goal is the ability to
create, access, comprehend, and act using media texts instead of traditional ones. Although
Angelica’s definition was limited to online media, Madelyn expanded on Angelica’s definition
by saying: “Like, I think it would mean like, like literacy, like I dunno it reminds me of like
English or like reading something on the media.” Madelyn acknowledged that media is beyond
online media, but still focused on how literacy and media literacy are intertwined.
Relating media literacy back to English class was quite common, partially because many
participants related the term “literacy” with such classes. However, many also related media
literacy to English because of their experience with information literacy within the English class
setting. Nora put it this way:
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My expectation is that media literacy is understanding like, like fi- like knowing what
your sources are and making sure that you have reliable information. Um, and most of
that, at least from if that's the perspective, if that's the definition we're going off of, was
like in English class when they were like, ‘make sure we're- when you're writing a
research paper, like make sure your sources are real.’
This definition is consistent with information literacy, which focuses on the ability to find,
access, evaluate, analyze, and present information. Information literacy focuses on these skills
within a research context, and it is commonly taught in U.S. schools during tasks like writing
research papers, as Nora mentioned. Most participants mentioned receiving an information
literacy education, so it is understandable that they would relate media literacy with information
literacy.
Brittney also emphasized information literacy when defining media literacy, by saying:
“We're all taught like Wikipedia, isn't a source. And like, you have to assume the bias and you
have to like, look at the date, look at the website, like, is this website, like is it just like crafted
for content or is it like an actual source?” This definition showcases the overlap between media
and information literacy. While what Brittney said relates to information literacy by speaking
about finding and using academic information, these steps are also worthwhile when assessing
non-academic types of media, such as news articles or tweets. There is of course a great overlap
between information and media literacy, as seen in the literature review. The fact that this
overlap was emphasized by participants’ definitions supports efforts to teach these literacies in
conjunction with one another. Based off these participants’ definitions of media literacy,
scholars’ calls to teach media and information literacy together are justified, because it would
55
come naturally to the students as well as the teachers, who are already used to teaching
information literacy (Leaning, 2017; Lau, 2013; Mackey & Jacobson, 2011).
Theme Three: Media Use
Seven participants defined media literacy as the ability to use media properly. Isabella
defined media literacy as “how to use social media.” This simple definition evokes the
importance of internet and digital literacy. Since young people spend a lot of their time on social
media, understanding how to use it, and use it to their benefit, is important to them. Kayon
talked more specifically about media use while defining media literacy. “I think it's just more
like, learning about like things to post on media or like how it affects people and stuff like that.”
Kayon’s idea of media literacy also touches on digital and internet literacy, since she talks about
posting on media platforms. These definitions also highlight the production approach to media
literacy education, because of their emphasis on encouraging personal agency that allows young
people learn new skills, such as posting, as Kayon suggested (Cheung, 2009; Dezuanni, 2015;
Hobbs, 1998; Kearney, 2013; Goble, 2012; Norton & Hathaway, 2010).
Sophie defined media literacy in terms of how media use corresponds with daily life.
“Like how media is used throughout your life. Like how it like intertwines with your like daily
routine maybe.” With modern life so intertwined with media use, Sophie’s definition underscores
the importance of media use as part of media literacy education. This definition relates to
López’s (2019; 2020) conceptualization of ecomedia literacy, which focuses on creating
environmentally conscious media consumers, and encourages people to think about how they use
media devices and what they can do to use them less. This intentionality also exists in social
justice-oriented media literacy, which emphasizes that the media institutions in the U.S. are
dominated by white people, and therefore media use can reinforce white supremacy (Cobas,
56
2008; Ramasubramanian et al., 2021). Therefore, learning how media use affects one’s daily
routine, as Sophie mentioned, is an important part of media literacy and media literacy
education.
Charlotte defined media literacy as media use, but also talked about how media literacy
meant a holistic understanding of the media.
I feel like it's knowing how to use media and, like different aspects of it. Like, I feel like
literacy is usually when you're like, well, taught about something. So- or like, well-
knowledged about it. So media literacy would be like having a lot of information on the
media and maybe even like, it could be like a class that teaches you about the media.
This definition of media literacy is important because interactive learning is one of the ultimate
goals of the production, social justice-oriented, and critical approaches to media literacy. This is
also the goal of the media literacy non-profit NAMLE, which aims to teach people a holistic
approach to media literacy. Charlotte also suggests that media literacy could be taught through a
class, which demonstrates young people’s desire to receive a media literacy education in school.
RQ2: What knowledge and skills do young adults associate with media literacy?
It is important to understand the knowledge and skills that young adults associate with
media literacy so that researchers and educators are aware of what is top of mind for young
people when it comes to media literacy education. To gain an understanding of what these skills
and pieces of knowledge might be, participants were asked about how they search for things
using media, including how they access and analyze this information. Participants were also
asked if/how they create media. In order to expand participants’ perspectives, they were also
asked if their peers were able to perform these tasks. Although unintentional, knowledge and
skills also came up in one of the introduction questions, when participants were asked about what
57
they liked and didn’t like about the media that they used. During these conversations,
participants talked about their likes and dislikes, and some would follow up by talking about how
glad or upset they were that they were taught or were not taught a certain skill or piece of
knowledge. Knowledge and skills were also occasionally mentioned when talking about media
literacy education in the classroom (RQ3). Therefore, this research question was addressed
throughout the course of the interviews. This demonstrates that young people have many
opinions and perspectives about media literacy and media literacy education, and participants
were excited to share these opinions with the researcher. It is important to note that this section
concentrates mainly on social media –all 20 participants used at least two social media platforms,
and most used them every day, making social media a major part of their lives and of high
importance to them in terms of their opinions about media literacy education.
Theme Four: Computer Kids
Half of the participants spoke about the importance of learning basic computer skills for
them and their peers to succeed. These participants talked about learning to type, as well as to
use Microsoft Suite and being able to navigate their laptops for online learning during the
COVID-19 pandemic. It could be argued that this is not quite media literacy, but information
literacy (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2003). However, in the digital world of today, these skills
could be perceived as a version of media access, which is an important part of media literacy
(NAMLE; ACME). Chloe echoed a common sentiment among these participants when she said,
“I took like a technical class, which just taught us about how to like work with a computer. I
don't know if that counts.” Many participants found it worthwhile to bring up their computer
classes, even if they weren’t sure if a class like this was technically “media.” Some participants
felt like their lack of basic computer skills had set them behind. Alice put it this way:
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I hate Google. Like Google docs and stuff like that. And Google Excel, because I don't
know how to use it. Like I don't, I don't understand it. I think it's stupid. I don't, I don't
understand why things are moving this way. What do you mean autosave? Like, I don't
understand it, don't get it. . . Like and I'm a senior, like, this is stuff that I should have
been learned. But I didn't, you guys [referring to her teachers] just told us that we had to
do stuff on Google docs to share, and that was it. Like, that was it. We just kind of had to
fend for ourselves with that.
Participants like Alice felt as though they were being asked to perform tasks using computer
skills that they did not have. This was especially important to participants who did a lot of their
coursework using a computer, particularly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Sophie saw
her education completely shift, like many young people during this time. Sophie spoke about
how her school shifted from pencils and paper to laptops in order to adjust to the COVID-19
world.
I would be using my laptop all the time in like classes to take notes and assignments a lot
would be like on the laptop. Like, you, it wasn't like you're using a paper, especially like
with COVID too. Like there was a rule like you couldn't pass out papers, whatever. Um,
which some teachers completely ignored it, but, um, a lot of times, like the assignment is
on your laptop and you need a laptop to complete the assignment. And, um, so that's
pretty much like how it was all the time from like junior to senior year.
Although the technical skills mentioned above are not directly related to media literacy, they
were important for many participants. These participants felt as though they needed these
computer skills to be more productive and adept members of society. Therefore, the sentiments
expressed in this theme were important because of this thesis’ focus on highlighting young
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people’s perceptions of media literacy, even if they vary from traditional definitions. Perhaps if
young people are taught these technical skills, they will feel more prepared to learn about media
literacy, including how to use computers to “access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act” using
media (NAMLE).
Theme Five: “We were the guinea pigs” – Barry
A popular sentiment discussed during the interviews was that participants felt as though
their generation signed up for social media during many platforms’ infant years with little to no
guidance. Participants felt the effects this had on them personally and on their peers. As the
“guinea pigs,” these young people felt as though their mental health and development was
altered by social media, and like the adults in their lives had let them down by not teaching them
about the dangers of these platforms.
An unfortunate, but unsurprising, finding was that nine of the participants, eight of whom
identified as women, talked about how their self-esteem and body image were affected by social
media use during their developmental years. Participants often felt that their self-esteem and
body image suffered because they compared themselves to others on social platforms, especially
visual ones such as Instagram and TikTok. Valerie described this comparison culture by saying:
“I do think they have like a competitive, um, undertone where it's just like, no one wants her life
to look bad on social media . . . it kind of blocks human connection because no one wants to
show like the negatives of their life on social media.” This lack of authenticity often left
participants feeling like they were not “good” enough in some way, whether it be in terms of
physical appearance or social life.
This comparison culture was especially pertinent when the young people were exposed to
influencers’ content. Many influencers appear to look just like normal, everyday people, but they
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are still internet celebrities who do not live normal lives. Nora, who attended public school in
both Arkansas and Pennsylvania, talked about how teachers have trouble understanding the
“bad” side of social media, while explaining what it is like for her to views influencers’ content:
I think that it [TikTok] starts to know what's gonna make me watch, even if that watching
is not a positive thing. So sometimes it's like a girl who's like ‘what I eat a day’ and she
eats like 800 calories and I'm like, ‘oh my God, I like, I, should I be doing that?’ I'm like,
‘obviously not.’ Um, but I think that there's that like, there's - that uncomfortable and bad
side, that just is not evident to most educators if they're not using the platforms.
Nora brought up the disconnect between her and her teachers, signifying that she feels her
teachers have trouble understanding what the media landscape is like for people her age. This
disconnect could be fueled by the fact that neither Pennsylvania nor Arkansas require media
literacy education instruction, and therefore Nora did not have the opportunity to talk with her
teachers about this side of social media.
Although the participants mentioned influencers, they also talked about how they wanted
to be more like people they actually know in real life based on their social media accounts.
Isabella talked about comparison with both influencers and her peers. “You can look at like
influencers and how, like, you would want to be like them, but like, it's not possible for you to
have like these millions and millions of followers. And like, or even if you want to be like
another person in your school that is like more popular on like social media and how, you would
want to be like that.” Isabella’s statement is an interesting one, because although young people
comparing themselves to their peers is not a new concept, social media adds a layer to this
comparison that did not previously exist (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016; Marengo et al., 2018;
Mills et al., 2018; Wells, Horwitz & Seetharaman, 2021).
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Adding another perspective, Brittney talked about her struggles with an eating disorder.
She spoke about posting a selfie on social media and getting a response from a friend asking for
her workout plan, so she could look more like Brittney. This upset Brittney, because she realized
that people were comparing themselves to her.
I like haven't posted on Instagram in so long, even though I take photos with the intention
to, because I know for a fact that I'm not happy and I'm not healthy. And I don't want to
like, put that out that I am, and have people look at that and be like, look at me and my
body and be like, ‘oh my gosh, she's so hot, like, ugh, why can't I be like that’ when like,
you don't want to be like this.
If media literacy was taught from a critical or social justice-oriented approach, young people
such as Nora, Isabella, and Brittney would be able to talk about how to navigate this comparison
culture through open and honest discussion with their peers (Kellner & Share, 2005, 2019;
López, 2014, 2019; Luke, 1994; Mihailidis et al., 2021a) and perhaps this could help ease young
people’s worries about not being “good” enough.
Participants came of age feeling as though social media was a fake world that made it
harder to truly connect to people, and they were unable to receive guidance from the adults in
their lives, including teachers, as social media was a new tool for everyone. This is an interesting
finding because it supports media literacy scholarship that acknowledges that media is a tool that
can be used to build community and connect to others (Buckingham, 2019; Hobbs, 2017; Kellner
& Share, 2019). However, it emphasizes certain, mainly social justice-oriented, media literacy
scholars’ idea that educators need to be clear about how young people can make meaningful and
beneficial connections through media, including providing young people with the proper tools
and resources to do so (Hodgin et al., 2018; Ramasubramanian & Darzabi, 2020;
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Ramasubramanian et al., 2020). If young people are given the tools and resources needed to join
or even create empowering online communities, they may find it easier to avoid the toxic social
media communities the participants mentioned.
For example, Maya talked about the knowledge she learned in a media literacy class that
helped her to better understand how to refrain from comparing herself to others on social media:
One of the things we talked about in my communications class was like a benefit to social
media is you can portray yourself any way you want to. And I don't think like, of course,
like people talk about it all the time. Like, ‘oh, like social media is fake,’ but like, they
don't really talk about it. Like a lot of photos on Instagram are photoshopped or like taken
like on a certain day at a certain time. Like not all of it is true.
Maya’s media literacy instruction helped her go from simply being aware that social media was
causing her generation to compare themselves to others, to understanding why and how social
media posts are curated. This knowledge provided by a media literacy education can give young
people with the skills they need to avoid making these harmful comparisons between themselves
and other people.
Although mental health and development was mainly discussed in the comparison
context, some participants spoke about other health effects. Examples include anxiety and
depression because of news consumption, people becoming hostile because of violent video
games, and worries that peers were not physically active enough because they were spending
their spare time in front of a screen instead of outside or at the gym. Participants had a few
suggestions for how these issues could be avoided with future generations. John suggested
education as a way to improve mental health outcomes in the future:
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I think nowadays there should be a class on the dangers of social media. Um, although I
know that that probably won't happen. Um, but it's like –you can see the negative effects
that social media has on our generation already. And social media- and we got like, we
were introduced, really introduced the social media in middle school, um, you know,
early high school, and it's already taken a big toll on us. . . So I think that classes that like
teach about the psychological affects that media has, should be implemented going
forward is since it's becoming such a big part of our lives.
Although John was not hopeful that a media literacy education would be introduced, this
indicates young people’s desire to learn about the mental health effects of social media, so that
they are able to make informed decisions about their social media use. Olivia talked about how
she felt as though social media caused “a switch in [her] behavior” and suggested that social
media and mental health be addressed in school: “Um, like in maybe like a general health course
that like is required. ‘Cause I know for public school you have to take health. So maybe in like
ninth grade or eighth grade when you're younger and like deciding to get on platforms.” Olivia,
like many other participants, felt as though a media literacy education could serve as an
important warning mechanism for young people, so they could understand the mental health
dangers of social media platforms. Unfortunately, as the “guinea pigs,” participants did not feel
like they were given this warning, and they fear it may affect them for a long time.
Theme Six: Social Media Addiction
A significant skill that participants felt they were lacking was the ability to control the
amount of time they spent on their phones. Of the 20 participants, 13 mentioned that they
thought they spent too much time on their phones, specifically on social media apps. Cillian
talked about how much social media pulls him away from his responsibilities. “TikTok and
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Instagram are pretty similar, and you just waste, you can just kind of spend a lot of time, like
wasting on that. Like, especially when I have like assignments due and stuff like that. And then I
find myself just scrolling through TikTok for hours.” Participants such as Cillian felt they lacked
the self-control needed to stay off of their phones, even when faced with important deadlines.
Some participants attributed their time-wasting habits to social media algorithms, indicating a
level of media literacy because they were able to understand tech companies’ intent to keep them
engaged with the platform (Mihailidis et al., 2021b; Tyner, 2019). For example, Dakota talked
about her experience with TikTok: “It's like never ending, ‘cause you do get stuck into like that
realm and you kind of just get sucked into the screen, which is like horrible. I honestly think
that's like so bad.” The participants could understand that they were spending too much time on
social media, but they didn’t have the tools or the skills to stop.
Olivia talked about how she and her friends had even coined a nickname for their social
media addiction. “Like my friends and I refer to it as like a sickness, whenever we are just like in
the, like a loop of continuously scrolling on and on.” It is interesting that when these participants
spoke about the amount of time they spent on social media, they were all aware of the fact that it
was a problem. However, although there was some acknowledgement of the algorithms, most
participants thought of it as a personal problem, not a structural one designed by the creators of
these social media platforms. For example, when Madelyn spoke about the addicting nature of
social media, she said, “I don’t think that’s like an app thing. That’s more like a me thing.” Barry
was aware of the algorithms, but still put the blame on himself. “And then also their addictive
nature is a little bit concerning. I guess like, that's partially on me due to my, uh, like gotta have
some self-control there. But they do like kind of like build them to be like addictive and to keep
you scrolling.” These young people had the power of self-awareness about their media
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consumption habits, but, in some cases, they did not have the skills needed to change these habits
or the proper knowledge about how and why these habits had formed.
Many media literacy scholars advocate for the structure of U.S. media to be taught in
schools, including critical thinking exercises focused on how the media platform keeps the
audience’s attention (Hobbs, 2007) as well as who is constructing media content and their
intentions behind this construction (Kellner & Share, 2005; Ramasubramanian & Darzabi, 2020).
When it comes to educating about algorithms, scholars have emphasized that media literacy
education can help young people understand that tech companies have allowed their apps to
become addicting so that people stay on the app and therefore generate more revenue for the
companies (Mihailidis, 2021b; Tyner, 2019). A media literacy education could help young
people understand that these apps are designed to be time consuming and that it is not their fault
as individuals that they have become addicted to them. Perhaps this knowledge, especially when
taught during K-12, could help young people, like the participants, spend less time on social
media.
RQ3: What are young adults’ perceptions of media literacy education in the classroom?
This thesis mainly focuses on media literacy education in the classroom, with an
emphasis on young people’s K-12 experience. Therefore, it was important to discuss during the
interviews not only participants’ experiences, but also their thoughts about media literacy
education in the classroom. To better understand young people’s perceptions, participants were
asked a range of questions about their personal experiences, such as if and how they had learned
about media during K-12. They were also asked about their personal opinions regarding media
literacy education, such as how they would like to be taught about media, if they thought
receiving a media literacy education was important for themselves and their peers, and if they
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perceived that their teachers were capable of teaching them about media. Participants were also
asked to describe who they thought would benefit the most from a media literacy education.
Three distinct themes emerged to address this research question.
Theme Seven: I want to Learn about Media in School
Media literacy education is a topic that has gained public and political support in the past
decade and particularly since 2016 (Media Literacy Now). Of course, scholars and educators
know the benefits to media literacy education, including (but not limited to) its ability to help
create informed citizens and voters, enhance young people’s ability to evaluate news, and help
young people identify stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream media (Altschull, 1995; Ashley et
al., 2013; Hyslop-Marginson & Pinto, 2007; Kellner & Share, 2019; Mihailidis, 2009; Mihailidis
et al., 2020b; Ramasubramanian, 2007; Ramasubramanian & Darzabi, 2020; Vraga & Tully,
2015; Walsh et al., 2014). However, young people may not be aware of such benefits. Therefore,
it is important to gauge young people’s level of interest about receiving a media literacy
education, to ensure that they feel as though a media literacy education is useful to them as the
recipients, based on what they know and what they have experienced.
When the participants were asked if they were interested in learning about media literacy,
the feedback was a resounding affirmative –all 20 participants said they want to learn media
literacy in some capacity at school. This demonstrates that young people are not only willing but
hoping to get a media literacy education, and therefore media literacy is certainly a topic relevant
to their lives. Participants had varying opinions on what aspects of media literacy were the most
important, as well as how in-depth media literacy should be taught, but certain distinct patterns
did emerge.
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Although all 20 participants wanted what they identified as a media literacy education,
not every participant received one. Most participants did report learning about media safety, such
as cyberbullying, proper posting etiquette on social media sites, and tips to avoid speaking to
strangers on the internet. Some participants were taught media safety in a class dedicated to the
topic, some as part of a unit of another class (such as health or English) and some with teachers
who would mention it from time to time (media safety is elaborated upon under the
“protectionist” theme). Two had classes where they would watch media content – one watched
the news, and one watched movies (both said that very few assignments were given in their
classes, as they were mainly consumption/observation classes).
Out of the 20 participants, only four reported taking a class dedicated to media literacy.
These four participants had classes that focused on how to “access, analyze, evaluate, create and
act” (NAMLE) using media. Two of these participants took a class that taught communication in
steps –starting from face-to-face interactions and working up to using media to gather news,
assess credibility, and create videos and podcasts. One participant had a class that focused
mainly on news media, particularly aimed at fact-checking and interpreting bias. Another
participant took a class that was focused on production, with a teacher who took care to teach
lessons about media access, analysis, and use. Of these four, only two took more than one media
literacy class. Both groups –the four participants who did receive a media literacy education and
the 16 who did not –had suggestions as to what they would like to learn in a media literacy class.
The four participants who had a media literacy class all said that they were grateful they
had the opportunity to take it. Of these four participants, three had started college and they
noticed how beneficial it was to them, and how much more prepared they felt, even to do basic
information literacy tasks, than their peers. Barry, who attended Catholic school in Ohio and is
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now a first-year student at a public college in North Carolina, said “I'd say like, I'm definitely
much better prepared than some people. Because we'll like do it [use a computer] in class, and I
feel like some people still don't know how to like cite a resource in like a paper.” Maya, who
attends a charter school in Upstate New York, pointed out some specific benefits of her media
literacy class:
At first I didn't realize, I didn't even realize that media was like more than just like your
phone. And like music, like, even just finding out that like media is just like everywhere.
That was like a shocker. And, um, yeah, I think it was really important because like, I
don't think anybody, like, of course, like a lot of people like might think to themselves
like, ‘oh, I'm on my phone too much,’ but like, you never really think about how big of a
problem it is. And so then like learning about it in class was like, okay, yeah, this is
definitely an issue.
Although Maya’s experience with her media literacy class is not universal, it is clear that
her media literacy education drastically altered the way she thinks about media. Barry, as well as
the other two participants who had a media literacy education, felt more comfortable
transitioning into college. The benefits these four participants described make it clear that media
literacy education plays an important and positive role in their lives, and it is understandable that
these four participants were grateful to have this educational experience.
Other participants, as mentioned previously, learned about media in classes that could not
be described as media literacy-focused, but still learnt skills that they felt were important and
worthwhile. Dakota, who attended public school in the Greater Philadelphia Area, talked about a
class she took in which students would spend the class period watching the news. “That was one
of my favorite classes actually, just because it was so like laid back and we got to see like stuff
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that was going on because at my, like in my family, we don't really watch the news. It's just like
we go about our days.” Even though the class did not teach every facet of media literacy,
learning about the news media was still largely beneficial to Dakota, and an expansion of this
class to include more elements of media literacy, such as access, production and action would
only further benefit young people.
Many other participants, who did not take a class like Dakota did, were also interested in
learning more about the news. Charlotte spoke about how it’s important for people to learn about
disinformation in news media. “I feel like it is a big aspect of people's lives and the –since it's
such a big aspect, people should know how to like use it and to like, be able to tell what's real
and what's not real and be able to just decipher all of that.” News consumption, such as what
Dakota learned in her class, is of course commonplace and worthwhile. However, learning to
analyze the news that is being consumed, like Charlotte mentioned, perhaps through open
discussion, would help young people enhance their news media literacy skills.
The idea that media is prevalent in young peoples’ lives of course expanded beyond just
news media. As mentioned in theme four, it was common for participants to associate the term
“media” with technology use. Therefore, participants talked about how they wanted to be taught
about media because of their constant connection to the technology associated with it.
Participants like Madelyn described what she wanted out of a media literacy education:
I mean, I think it would be a good thing to be taught because it's so like, it's right here, it's
right now, and it's so a part of all of our lives right now. So I think that would be helpful
because some people don't know how to do . . . like, I feel like it's good to be informed
about what we're using every day.
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Many participants viewed the technological world of today as something inescapable.
Participants like Brittney felt like it would be hard to be fully functioning members of society
without the knowing how to use this technology.
Like you can't do a lot of things without having a phone or just like knowledge of how to
like, use a computer. Like even if like you go to the store, like they now have the big
iPads and they'd like, twist them towards you and you have to be able to know, like, you
can tap that and you can do this and you can do that.
An understanding that technology is omnipresent in their lives was a major reason behind
participants’ ideas for a media literacy education. The association of technology with media
makes sense, since most participants engage with media mainly through technology. Lessons
about the technology that houses most of young people’s media could be helpful to these
participants, both with helping them navigate this technology, but also with helping them
understand the similarities and differences between media content and technology.
Some participants also talked about how they wanted to learn how to produce media at
school. Most of these participants were interested in a career in media production, or simply
thought these types of courses should be offered to those who were interested in taking them. For
example, John did not have many opportunities to learn media production in school. He talked
about how he felt as a first-year college student studying film: “I'm a terrible editor. I'm like,
that's like the bane of my existence. And there are some people who like, took like Premiere
classes in high school. So they're like, you know, leagues above. So I'm now kind of, I'm kind of
behind on that aspect.” John felt that those in his film school cohort who had learned media
production in their K-12 experience were better equipped than him to edit films, and this unequal
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education was having an impact on his college experience. This emphasizes that the production
component of media literacy education is invaluable, especially to students like John.
Media production is a main component of media literacy, and most of the participants
who spoke at length about it wanted to learn how to produce media because of their future goals.
Other participants mentioned creating YouTube videos and FlipGrids, and while they found
these exercises to be enjoyable, they did not view them as being highly important. This could be
because production was not a part of the classroom learning, but rather students were told to
make a YouTube video or FlipGrid as homework, and then had to figure out how to produce
these videos on their own. This became especially prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic,
when students were asked to use technology to create content in their homes as a replacement for
standard, pre-pandemic classroom activities. Incorporating media production lessons into
classroom instruction would help to create a collaborative space in which students could learn
several components of media literacy by gaining a better understanding of how to access and
utilize production media. Perhaps if participants had a more collaborative media production
experience, they would have found media production assignments and tasks more fulfilling and
worthwhile.
While production was important to some participants, others talked about the benefits of
incorporating a variety of media into the classroom, even if it was something as simple as
watching a movie or a video. Antonio said:
I feel like just implementing media is just a way to tie kids’ attention back. Like honestly,
that's always what it's done for me. I instantly like I'll perk up in my seat and I'll pay
attention to whatever video we watch in class. And yeah, I feel like it's a great
supplemental tool to really like hammer in the knowledge.
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This was a common sentiment among participants. Other participants talked about how watching
videos, playing Kahoots, and even playing interactive games with Smartboards were memorable
and exciting experiences. Clearly, media is viewed by young people as something fun and
different, and many participants could vividly recall ways they used media when they were in
elementary school. Perhaps media production would add another layer of excitement to young
people’s educational experience –by creating an experience that is not only memorable but also
worthwhile as a contribution towards media literacy.
Theme Eight: Learning Media Literacy
Although all of the participants did want to learn about media literacy, they were
particular about how they wanted to be taught. Of the 20 participants, 17 thought that their
teachers could only teach them what they considered the basics of media (such as media safety
and how to use technology like PowerPoint). Most of these participants felt this way because
they thought there was a generational disconnect between how young people use media and how
older people use media. Most participants believed this disconnect was because of social media
and smartphone use. The participants acknowledged that most of their teachers had social media
and smartphones, but since they did not grow up with this technology, they cannot understand it
the way young people do. Henry acknowledged that this disconnect may not be intentional, but it
does exist:
A lot of teachers are just, uh, totally unaware, really of what happens. Like obviously,
like they call it the wrong names. They don't even care to learn about it. And like, not that
I blame them, but I would definitely say that maybe the older generation of teachers is a
bit out of touch and clueless with that, but it's, it's understandable. I mean, they didn't
grow up with it.
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Participants believed that social media was beyond the scope of their teachers’ knowledge, but
they did believe that they were able to effectively teach information literacy. Valerie addressed
this capability, but also expressed her doubts about their ability to teach media literacy,
especially in terms of social media:
Of course, I had classes like Excel and Microsoft and PowerPoint, and those are kind of
like- have kind of been timeless things. Like they don't change all that much. Um, but I
definitely don't think like with media today, like social media and stuff, they could have
taught it to the, you know, um, extent it's like around today.
Antonio said technology was “ingrained” in their generation and therefore young people’s
experience with media was not only different than their teachers, but also more advanced. “I feel
like if anything, the students were better with media than most the teachers. Even when they'd
show, like YouTube videos and stuff in class, I feel like most of the time it was the students like
pulling it up for the teacher, like putting it on the projector.” Participants like Henry, Valerie and
Antonio did not believe that their teachers could teach them about media literacy. It is
interesting, however, that the participants did believe their teachers could teach information
literacy. This could be because information literacy was more commonplace in participants’
schooling, and they therefore knew their teachers could teach these skills. Since there is no
requirement for teachers to teach media literacy, and most participants were not taught it, it is
understandable that they did not believe their teachers were capable of teaching it.
When these 17 participants were asked what kind of teacher would be effective at media
literacy, 11 of them said that they would prefer someone younger. These participants thought that
a younger person was more equipped to understand their media use, because of their personal
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experiences with media. John spoke about how a younger teacher would make a media literacy
class feel authentic.
Um, I feel like if, if a 60-year-old dude was teaching that class, it would not have the
same effect –just because, younger generations, like I could believe that they get it. But I
couldn't believe that a 60-year-old man or woman could understand just media as a
whole. Because it's like, when they were our age, the only media they had was like a
four-station television set, that they would sit in front of and eat dinner with their
families.
Again, the idea that younger teachers would be the best people to teach media literacy was
mostly tied to social media. The participants felt that a younger teacher would have experience
with social media, and therefore they’d be better equipped to teach about it. Nora thought that
older teachers didn’t understand the negative effects of social media the way that younger
teachers could. “I had some young teachers who were like, ‘I know you guys spend way too
much time on that and it's not good. And I'm sorry.’” Participants like Nora and John wanted a
younger media literacy teacher because they thought younger teachers had a more well-rounded
view of media, especially social media, which is incredibly important to young people. Other
suggestions for a media literacy teacher included: three participants who thought that a teacher
with teenage kids would be better equipped to teach about the media, and four participants who
thought the teacher should have a thorough understanding of media and technology.
It should be noted that three participants did think their teachers could teach them about
media literacy. These three participants thought that since media is so prevalent in students’
lives, and the teachers are involved in the students’ lives, they were able to understand and teach
media literacy. Grace spoke about how teachers don’t have to be tech-savvy to teach media
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literacy, they just have to understand their students’ relationship with media. “I'm sure that if you
probably gave them a phone, they wouldn't necessarily know how to use it, but I think they
understand why we use it. Definitely to like post pictures of ourselves or to communicate to each
other for like entertainment reasons.” Grace’s explanation is interesting, because the media
landscape changes quite often, and it would be a lot to demand that teachers are constantly up to
date on the latest trends. However, if media literacy education focuses more broadly on mutual
understanding and collaboration, the same media literacy lessons could remain effective for
many years.
Interestingly, none of the three participants who thought their teachers could effectively
teach them about media literacy had taken a media literacy class during K-12. Further, when
these three participants were asked to define media literacy during the interview (as expanded
upon in Theme Two), two had definitions of media literacy that did not focus on learning, but
rather broader definitions of media that diverged from most of the participants. For example,
Dakota, who believed her teachers could effectively teach her about media, related media
literacy to media effects, defined media literacy as “kind of how the media maybe influences like
the society.” Perhaps these three participants’ more general outlook on media literacy and their
lack of exposure to media literacy education led them to have a different conceptualization than
their peers about what a media literacy class would look like.
Although participants did have opinions about what type of teacher would be able to
teach media literacy, most did not want to be taught exclusively by their teachers. Isabella talked
about learning media literacy through classroom collaboration “Maybe it's just like an open
discussion in class. Like not like, like, a PowerPoint in front of everyone, but like each classroom
having like a discussion about like their thoughts on it.” Media literacy scholars, especially those
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part of the social justice-oriented and critical media literacy disciplines, believe an approach like
Isabella’s leads to more fruitful media literacy instruction, because it gives space for multiple
interpretations and understandings about media content (Kellner & Share, 2005;
Ramasubramanian et al., 2021). Indeed, of the 20 participants, 12 suggested learning media
literacy through peer collaboration. Participants spoke about how if they wanted to learn
something new about the media, they would turn to their peers for help. Barry spoke about his
experience with peer collaboration.
Honestly, like in like a social setting, if you're like with your friends. Um, I guess like, if
I didn't like, know how to use, like –I didn't know how to like, make a TikTok at all. Um,
and so like, I was like, I would ask like ‘[name of girlfriend], like, how do I, like, how do
I make a TikTok?’ And then she would teach me that.
Participants spoke of this peer collaboration as something that felt natural, because they felt as
though they were learning from people who understood media the same way that they did. Chloe
spoke about how she learned new things about media from her older brother, as well as her
peers. “Probably just like your friends and family, if it's not like school or education teaching
you. Because they can teach you different things than like school could.” Chloe, who was one of
the 17 participants who did not think her teachers could give her a media literacy education,
thought that her peers had more to offer in terms of learning who to navigate the social media
landscape. In both of these cases, the participants wanted to learn about media from someone
who they knew well and trusted. Cillian spoke about how learning about media his peers served
as a good way to check in with them.
Like everyone's kind of like learning together. So kind of like comparing experiences,
like through your peers I think is probably very important. So kind of just like hanging
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out with friends, like obviously like media will sometimes like come up into
conversation. So, um, I think that's probably the most important way is making sure that
like, you feel like you and your friends are, uh, all being safe.
Participants like Barry, Chloe, and Cillian thought that learning about media collaboratively with
their peers was akin to an act of friendship and rooted in mutual trust. This supports media
literacy scholarship that claims learning media literacy should be a discussion-based,
collaborative instruction model (Kellner & Share, 2005; Ramasubramanian et al., 2021)
especially since many of these participants are already engaging each other this way outside of
school, it makes perfect sense to incorporate this type of collaboration into media literacy
education instruction.
Further, ten participants suggested, as Olivia put it, “learning about media through
media.” In these cases, participants described using YouTube or Google to find out more
information on a subject, or to find out how to perform a task on software such as Excel or
Adobe. These cases involved a lot of learning-by-doing. Antonio spoke about experimenting
with their identity on, as they put it, “every different, like platform I could name,” and how this
experience was “fundamental” to them. “I went through a phase where I was basically on every
different, like platform I could name. I was just like trying to kind of teach myself how to like
conduct myself on different apps.” The idea of learning about media from the media exemplifies
young people’s natural curiosity. This type of learning could be strengthened in the classroom
through the production approach to media literacy education because students could learn about
media in a hands-on way. They could also express themselves through media, like Antonio did,
through an arts-based production approach (Tyner, 2014).
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Lastly, the participants had suggestions about when young people should start learning
media literacy. Of the 20 participants, 16 said that media literacy education should start before
high school. Most of the participants suggested that pre-teens and early teens (middle school age
in the U.S.) would benefit from a media literacy education the most. Participants talked about
how they got their first smartphones and subsequently social media accounts at this age, making
an important stage of life for a media literacy education. Participants, like Grace, worried about
the effects of young kids having access to smartphones without any formal instruction about how
to navigate social media.
I feel like –by the time we get older, we're a little more responsible on the media. We're
not just posting every other thing or, or like we're being more careful about what we post.
I feel like as kids, we were all posting random things that we saw or just honestly being
meaner to each other. As we grow up, we get a little nicer, sometimes, and a little bit
more responsible. I feel that like 10- to 13-year-old age group would really benefit from
that [media literacy education].
Most participants thought that media literacy education should begin with basics (such as media
safety, e.g. sharing your personal information on the internet) and continue into more
complicated topics in high school. Kayon talked about how she found it beneficial to begin
learning about media in sixth grade. “I learned in like the seventh, sixth or seventh grade, I think
that people should, like now that kids are getting older and like more aware, I feel like they
should emphasize that more. Like, while- like while we're in high school and stuff.” Kayon was
thankful for the introduction to media education that she received in middle school, but she felt
as though it could have been expanded upon at the high school level. Alice also spoke about how
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she was thankful she learned these basic media skills in middle school, but she wished they
would have built to something more substantial.
Fifth to sixth is a really good time. By eighth and ninth, like, especially if you're still
trying to teach high schoolers about cyber bullying- don't, we're not paying attention. We
don't care. You're just getting on our nerves and you're telling us the same thing we've
heard since sixth grade. Teach us stuff about it. Teach us about how we can use it, teach
us how we can promote ourselves on it. ‘Cause I still don't know stuff about that, you
know, and I, I that's something that I'd genuinely like to learn about, so.
This finding is consistent with past research about young people’s perceptions of media literacy
education, in that the older teen participants in this study thought the younger teens were more
susceptible to the dangers of social media (De Leyn et al., 2021). However, participants in this
study were still concerned for their own age group’s overall knowledge of media literacy as well.
Theme Nine: Protectionist Learning
By far, the most popular way for the participants to learn about media was through the
protectionist approach. The protectionist approach regards modern media as having exclusively
negative effects on its users, and claims young people should be taught to avoid it (Hobbs, 1998;
Kubey, 1998; Mendoza, 2009; Pasquier, 2001; Winn, 1977). Of the 20 participants, 14 recalled
being taught that modern media, in this case the internet and social media, were scary and unsafe
spaces. The result of this was that many participants’ primary form of media education was being
told what not to do. Many participants expressed frustration with this approach, including Alice,
who joked, “Well for one, it would be nice if they stopped trying to scare us. And if they gave up
on saying like the computer is gonna come and try and take our soul.” Alice went on to say that
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this approach was ineffective for multiple reasons, including the fact that she and her peers often
made friends through the internet and social media, so it was hard to take these lessons seriously.
Nora also took issue with the protectionist approach and suggested a more comprehensive
approach to media literacy education.
I almost think we need to be safely, but actively, introducing the consumption of media.
Like to young, to like super young people just so that they know from the beginning, how
to approach it because, I understand like the ‘let's keep kids like out of media, let's not
have them be accessing these things.’ But it doesn't, it doesn't –for me, it doesn't seem
like it'll- it'll uh, fare well later when people actually, when those, when those young, like
kids are actually real people and have to like access media, no matter what.
What Nora expressed is also the philosophy of most media literacy education disciplines,
excluding the protectionist approach. As has been oft repeated throughout this chapter,
participants felt as though media would always be in their lives, and that teaching them how to
use it would be more effective than the protectionist approach.
Some participants also talked about how the technology at their schools had firewalls to
prevent students from accessing certain websites. They also found this to be ineffective because
they were able to find other ways to access these websites in their free time, in a potentially less
safe environment. Brittney talked about the firewalls in terms of sexual health and safety:
Like God forbid, I mentioned that [porn] in a public school, although the students were
talking about it, like the teachers would never, um, I think like in high school, safety was-
I guess it was just like, cause they didn't really have to teach us anything about safety
cause they had the firewalls. So that was the kind of like, um, like, uh, oh, like they're
protecting us when we're on school websites.
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Brittney points out the connections between media literacy and sexual health, which are shown
to enhance knowledge of both when taught together (Attwood et al., 2015; Pinkleton et al., 2008;
Pinkleton et al., 2012). She also points out a major flaw in the protectionist approach to media
literacy education, and one that exists when any educational subject, such as sexual health, is
approached from this philosophy –creating obstacles or choosing to ignore certain subjects does
not satisfy young people’s curiosity.
It is worth noting that most of these participants did not mind being taught about media
safety as part of this protectionist approach. For example, some participants, like Cillian, were
happy to be taught about internet safety, such as avoiding scammers and knowing not to post his
address on the internet: “I mean, there definitely are still like dangers to kind of look out for,
which I think also should be like mentioned. Kind of like safety on the internet and stuff like
that.” Participants felt that these lessons in internet safety needed to be taught, so that young
people were able to be safe online. Participants also brought up the benefits to being taught about
their digital footprint. Henry talked about the potential benefits of a class with this focus. “Like if
you had a class that just would've said, like, ‘be careful you say, like the stuff doesn't go away,
it's online forever, so just think more about that.’ I think a lot of people, it would have a huge
impact on their lives. If they were to take a class about it.” Although the majority of participants
thought that media safety education was not enough, and was sometimes alarmist, they also were
appreciative of these lessons. This is important for media literacy scholars and educators to
acknowledge, so that media safety lessons could be incorporated into a comprehensive media
literacy education design.
This chapter covered the main findings of this thesis. Each of the nine themes provides
insight into young peoples’ perceptions of media education. The first theme, New Generation,
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New Communication, New Education, provided an overview of how the participants used media.
This theme demonstrated the prominence of social media in young people’s lives, and detailed
their media habits, such as using Snapchat as a texting service. Theme Two, titled Reading and
Comprehension, was the first of two themes that explored how the participants defined media
literacy. Out of the 20 participants, 10 defined media literacy as knowing how to “read,” the
media, signifying the importance of the word “literacy” in the term media literacy. Media Use,
the second theme that explored how participants defined media literacy, outlined seven
participant’s understanding of media literacy as the ability to properly use media. The fourth
theme, Computer Kids, showcased how relevant computers and technology are to young people
today, with half of the participants stating that they need to know how to use a computer to
succeed in life. “We Were the Guinea Pigs,” Theme Five, details participants’ frustration and
worry with growing up during the rise of social media without proper guidance from adults.
Theme Six, Social Media Addiction, focuses on participants’ desire to have more self-control
when it comes to social media use, specifically highlighting participants’ desire to learn how to
control their social media addictions. Theme Seven demonstrates that all 20 participants want to
learn about media and media literacy inn school, and Theme Eight describes how and what
students want to be taught media literacy. Finally, Theme Nine focuses on how most participants
were taught about media in school, which was mainly through the protectionist approach. Table
Three, below, demonstrates how each theme correlates with the three research questions.
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Table 3
Research Questions and
Corresponding Themes
Research Question One: How
do young adults define and
conceptualize
media literacy?
Research Question Two:
What knowledge and skills do
young adults associate with
media literacy?
Research Question Three:
What are young adults’
perceptions of media
literacy education
in the classroom?
Theme One: Theme One: New
Generation, New
Communication,
New Education
Theme Four: Computer Kids
Theme Seven: I want to Learn
about Media in School
Theme Two: Reading and
Comprehension
Theme Five: “We Were the
guinea pigs” - Barry
Theme Eight: Learning
Media Literacy
Theme Three: Media Use Theme Six: Social Media
Addiction
Theme Nine: Protectionist
Learning
The following Discussion chapter will focus on what was learned throughout the course
of this research, how this thesis can add to the scholarly literature, and the limitations of this
thesis along with recommendations for future research.
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Chapter Five: Discussion
This chapter concludes the thesis by discussing the key findings that contribute to the
research areas of media literacy and media literacy education. These findings include young
peoples’ willingness to receive a media literacy education, which contrasts with their opinions
about their teachers’ abilities to educate them about media literacy. It also highlights how young
people define media literacy, and what aspects of media literacy are the most important to them.
The next section describes the limitations of this thesis. This chapter concludes with
recommendations for further research.
Key Findings
As advocacy for media literacy education in K-12 schools continues to grow both within
the research and the law and policy spaces, it is imperative to understand how young people
perceive media literacy and media literacy education. This thesis took a broad approach to media
literacy in order to determine young people’s opinions and understandings of the subject.
Because this is constructivist research, this thesis aimed to understand the participants’
interpretations of media literacy and media literacy education based on their own subjective
views. Interestingly, participants’ depth of understanding of media literacy and media literacy
education most often depended on if they had taken a media literacy course (or courses) or not.
Identity also played a major role when participants who identified as women spoke about how
social media affected their body image and self-esteem. However, participants’ understanding of
media literacy education in schools was central to their views of media literacy and media
literacy education.
The first major finding of this thesis is the resounding affirmative response from
participants when asked if they would find media literacy education worthwhile. All 20
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participants agreed that they would like to learn media literacy in school. The participants who
had taken a media literacy class were grateful that they did so, those who did not wished that
they had. Many believed that because media and the technology that powers it are ingrained in
their lives and will continue to be prevalent, that learning media literacy would benefit them both
personally and professionally. Participants were particularly interested in learning news media
literacy and the production approach to media literacy, both of which have been thoroughly
researched in the classroom setting (Cheung, 2009; Hobbs, 1998; Hobbs, 2003; Mihailidis, 2009;
Norton & Hathaway, 2010; Tyner, 2014; Vasudevan et al., 2010; Vraga & Tully, 2015).
Participants were also interested in learning information literacy, which, while not completely
aligned with media literacy, was a common wish for many participants. Of course, information
literacy focuses on academic texts, and media literacy focuses on mass media (Lau, 2013) but the
association of the two literacies supports Mackey & Jacobson (2011)’s idea of a metaliteracy,
which includes both media and information literacy, among others. This finding is especially
important because the United States school system is intended to follow Dewey’s (1934)
philosophy of education, which indicates that students should learn about things that are
personally relevant to them. Clearly, the results of this thesis indicate that media literacy
education would be relevant and therefore beneficial to students.
The second key finding also serves as a challenge to the above finding –although the
participants did want a media literacy education, they were not confident that their teachers
would be able to provide it. Many participants felt that their educators were too out of touch –
especially because the media landscape has changed so much since most of their teachers were
school-aged. Specifically, participants did not think that teachers understood social media,
especially apps like Snapchat and TikTok, as well as unique functions of social media such as
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private stories. Most participants indicated that a media literacy educator would have to be
someone younger, because they would know more about social media, which corresponds with
De Leyn et al.’s (2021) study of young people’s perceptions of media literacy education in
Belgium. It is important to note, however, that incorporating media literacy education into K-12
schools does not have to be the sole responsibility of already overworked teachers. Many
participants stated that they’d rather learn media literacy through discussions with their peers
than through a lecture from a teacher. This sentiment is consistent with both social justice-
oriented and the critical approaches to media literacy education (Kellner & Share, 2005;
Ramasubramanian et al., 2021).
Since this thesis is about young people’s perceptions of media literacy education, it was
important to ask them how they defined the term “media literacy.” Many participants related
media literacy to traditional literacy, focusing essentially on how to read and comprehend the
media. This definition is particularly poignant, as learning to both write and read media is a
fundamental media literacy goal (Buckingham, 2003). The other popular media literacy
definition is the ability to use media. In most cases, these participants spoke about how to
navigate and effectively use social media. These definitions are also important, because social
media use in general is more popular with Generation Z than any other generation (Auxier &
Anderson, 2021), but when used improperly or without guidance, can lead to serious problems
such as a greater intake of biased news (Mitchell et al., 2020), mental health and self-esteem
issues (Lin et al., 2016; Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016; Marengo et al., 2018; Primack et al. 2017;
Sagioglou & Greitemeyer, 2014; Shensa et al., 2016) and addiction due to tech companies’
negligence (Mihailidis, 2021b; Tyner, 2019). While both of these definition categories are
important, there is certainly room for improvement. No participant was aware of the full scope of
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media literacy, such as “to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act” using all types of media
(NAMLE). However, these definitions do show that participants have some idea about media
literacy, and more extensive media literacy education could help them fill the gaps.
The final key finding is the aspects of media literacy education that are most important to
the participants. First, as has been the most common thread throughout this thesis, young people
greatly value social media. The participants spend considerable time using social media, and
social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are important parts of their social lives.
To these young people, their social media presence is like an extension of themselves (Riccio,
2020). and it is therefore worthwhile to include with media literacy education instruction. Many
participants felt as though they were thrust into the world of social media in their developmental
years, and they were now paying the price with social media addiction and body image issues.
Many expressed regret and frustration that their teachers did not educate them about social media
–they felt as though the adults in their lives had failed to keep them safe. The participants wanted
a better for future generations, and many expressed that people who were younger than them (in
about the 12-14 age range) should begin receiving a media literacy education so that they
understood social media and its effects. This finding is also consistent with De Leyn et al.’s
(2021) results –the young people in their study (ages 14-16) thought that their younger peers
would benefit the most from a media literacy education.
These findings indicate that young people want a media literacy education that serves
them as a generation that grew up surrounded by different types of media without much guidance
about how to navigate it. It also demonstrates that young people believe media literacy education
should be collaborative, because the participants felt they could learn more from a discussion
with their peers than through a lecture with their teachers. Finally, it shows that media literacy is
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a helpful tool for young people, that can help them navigate their daily lives, and give them
necessary skills to be responsible, conscious media users.
Implications for Educators, Parents, and Policy Makers
As stated throughout this thesis, the findings are intended to inform not only the research
community, but also educators, parents, and policy makers about how to best approach media
literacy education. Based on the above findings, it is clear that young people value learning
media literacy, and it is a subject that educators, parents, and policy makers should continue to
learn about and advocate for. Further, media literacy education should be taught in the form of an
open discussion, during which all members of the discussion are able to participate and learn
from each other. This style of learning media literacy was preferred by many of the participants,
many of whom felt their teachers may not be equipped to teach them about media literacy, but
that their peers are equipped to teach them about this subject. This can also be applied to the
home setting, in which parents should treat discussions about media as open conversations.
It is also important to note how young people engage with the media. For example,
participants mainly spoke about social media, specifically Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, as
the media platforms they use the most. Educators and parents should be aware of these young
peoples’ social media use, and take time to understand these platforms and why they are
attractive to young people. This could help foster productive discussion and collaboration about
media use and media literacy. Further, it is important to note that many participants were not
satisfied with the protectionist approach to media literacy education, even though this was how
most participants were taught about the media. Educators, policy makers, and parents should
instead focus on a more holistic approach to teaching media literacy that acknowledges the
presence of media as well as its benefits and dangers.
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Limitations
As with any research study, this thesis comes with limitations. First, there only six states
where participants received their K-12 education, and they were mainly concentrated on the east
coast. This is largely due to the researcher’s ties to this demographic region. Secondly, most of
the participants self-identified as white. The perceptions of the world that white Americans have
comes from a place of privilege that is not afforded to minoritized populations, and therefore the
sentiments expressed by many of the participants in this study come from a place of privilege
that may affect the results. Thirdly, as with all qualitative research, the researcher views the
world through their subjective lens. As a straight, white, woman from a middle-class
background, who is passionate about the subject of media literacy, this affects the way the
researcher interpreted and reported the data. Finally, this research was done amid an
unprecedented global pandemic. While this study fills a gap in the research, the context could
have affected the participants’ responses, primarily because data collection was done on Zoom,
during a time when many young people were experiencing “Zoom fatigue” (i.e., they felt
burnout by having constant interactions through a screen). In general, young people had
experienced an unprecedented two years of their lives during the time of these interviews, and
their perspectives may have shifted dramatically compared to people who received a “normal”
high school education that was not suddenly shifted to online and hybrid learning.
Further Research
In congruence with the limitations, future research should focus on wider recruitment,
beyond participants from the six states that were included in this interview. Education and
culture are different depending on the state, and it would be worthwhile to hear from participants
from other parts of the United States. This thesis also focused on media literacy education in the
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classroom. However, media literacy education can also take place in the home. Studies that focus
on media literacy education in the home could provide deeper insights into media literacy
education that occurs outside of the classroom. Past research demonstrates that family-centered
media literacy education improves healthy eating habits (Austin et al., 2020) and educates young
people about the effects of substance abuse (Scull et al., 2017). Further research on family-
centered media literacy could expand on these topics, or some of the topics discussed in this
thesis, such as social media addiction, or self-esteem issues related to media use. This future
research could include interviews with both young people and their parents. Of course,
interviewing media literacy educators (such as teachers) to better understand their perceptions
and understandings of media literacy education would be worthwhile, especially when
comparing the results from such a study to the results in this thesis. Mihalidis et al. (2021b)
recently conducted a survey research study with media literacy educators. The information in this
thesis, paired with the findings of the survey serves as a starting point for in-depth interviews
with educators about the topic of media literacy education, in order to understand the similarities
and differences between young people’s perceptions of media literacy education and their
teacher’s perceptions of media literacy education. Further, since the results of this thesis
demonstrated that young people do indeed want to receive a media literacy education, greater
inquiry into what and how young people would like to learn in a media literacy class would be
worthwhile. For example, further research could focus on what type of media literacy approach
(i.e. protectionist, critical, production, or social justice-oriented) is most appealing to young
people. Further research could also focus more directly on how young people’s social identities
(such as their sexual orientation, gender identity, and race) affects their understanding and
interest in media literacy and media literacy education. Lastly, this thesis focused on the
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perceptions of media literacy education with 18 and 19-year-olds. Further research could expand
this population to include younger K-12 students.
Summary
This thesis approached media literacy and media literacy education from a broad, open-
ended angle to understand young peoples’ understanding and perceptions of media literacy
education. This was done through semi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 20) using the
constructivist worldview. The researcher’s primary goal was to understand young people’s
thoughts about media literacy education during a time when scholars and lawmakers are calling
for media literacy education to be integrated into classroom learning. This was the goal because
young people should have a say in what and how they are taught, and this thesis gave
participants the opportunity to express their thoughts.
It is clear that young people want a media literacy education. Particularly, they want a
media literacy education that allows for peer discussion and collaboration, because they believe
they could learn more from their peers than their teachers. Unsurprisingly, social media plays a
big role in their lives, and they want to learn about it in school. They also want younger people to
learn about media, so that they are better informed than they were. Participants also expressed
interest in learning about information literacy, news media literacy, and the production approach
to media literacy. As was expressed by many participants, the media environment is becoming
increasingly saturated and integrated into daily life, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The
results of this thesis contribute to the knowledge of media literacy education, and provide
insights into how young people want to be educated about media literacy.
