Young people confronting the challenge of reading and interpreting a digital world

Abstract

Critical citizenship education must consider the global and digital context in which we live. Digital media and global processes have a decisive influence on people’s daily lives. However, digital literacy programs rarely go beyond teaching technological skills. Similarly, critical thinking approaches to education focus on developing cognitive skills, omitting the weight of values and emotions in decision making. This research analyses Spanish secondary school students’ narratives and reflections about two publications on Twitter that present biased information to encourage undemocratic attitudes. The results show that most students are far from being critical of the information they read on the internet, and they easily fall into the trap of defending undemocratic discourses.

Keywords

• Undemocratic discourses
• Critical digital literacy
• Critical thinking
• Democratic values