Social Adaptation through Digital Literacy among LIS Students in Post-COVID-19 in Indonesia

Abstract

The emergence of digital technology in information fields amidst the conditions of the global post-pandemic crisis has promised a variety of solutions because of its inherent multi-facilities on the one hand. However, because of those as well significant threats have emerged on the other hand, such as hoaxes and fraud. The question of how to make this technology a solution must be lived based on digital literacy. Social adaptation in post-COVID-19 requires strengthening digital literacy to produce the expected social conditions. This research employed a qualitative method based on the interview with 25 LIS students chosen due to their connectivities with current digital literacy issues and the pandemic at five universities in Indonesia. Those students’ voices have been considered enough to represent studied phenomena after investigation. The interview data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s three steps of data display, reduction, and verification. The research found that the way of Gen Z society actualizes itself in adjusting to the post-pandemic environment is vital in several aspects that consist of identity, critical reasoning, social participation, and societal empowerment. Besides, digital literacy in the context of social adaptation functions as a means of society, strengthening the position of rights, responsibilities, citizenship, and community safety. The research has successfully discovered the phenomena of those aspects based on in-depth qualitative analysis. Unfortunately, it is limited to the descriptive analysis framed in a narrative condition. Therefore, further research needs to consider the quantitative trends to discover the generation’s adaptability level in encountering the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• social adaptation
• digital literacy
• lis student
• social media
• post-covid-19