By Lia Naidoo
Having commemorated Black Wednesday (19 October) and its gift of media freedom, it is imperative that we take time to honour the role that media literacy plays in the lives of our young generation.
Black Wednesday amplifies media freedom and the right for journalists to be liberated in expressing their views through both traditional and non-traditional media. Media freedom acts as a kingpin to a well-established democracy. Media literacy focuses on the rights of the consumer when digesting such content. When the public is media-literate, they are empowered to interact intelligently with all the information available to them.
Children are most vulnerable and need to be media literate to possess the skills to critically analyse, decode and seek authenticity when engaging with information. Children have to be equipped with the necessary mental tools required to understand underlying messages and make informed decisions. We are living in a digitally advanced country, with over 95% of teenagers having prime access to the internet (Unicef, 2021). The plethora of content available at our fingertips demands that parents be responsible and clued up with the content their minors are digesting. Many children are too young to discern the type of content available to them and of what influence it has on their psychological wellbeing.
Between the age of eight to 12 years, the brains of children are at its peak transformative stages, meaning that it is highly malleable to its surroundings. Consuming a variety of media on a daily basis enables young children to develop perceptions and expectations about the world. This hones their delicate thought patterns and further influences their overall behaviour.
Sometimes, unrestricted access to the internet can do more damage than good to the growing child. Graphic and age-restricted content can skew their judgment ability, and children may fall prey to romanticising violent conduct. According to studies, it is not only mass media that exposes children to the dark end of the internet, but even content deemed as “child-friendly” can also tend to showcase scenes of physical or verbal violence.
Media literacy does not just end there. The concept encourages parents to play an active role themselves in dissecting the content they engage in and of what benefit it can bring to their children.
Steps to promote the media literacy culture include being willing to make an effort to fully understand and be critical of content. It is imperative that we holistically understand the power of media messages and are able to distinguish rational vs emotional reasoning.
Embracing media literacy as a parent means taking practical steps to monitor children and their daily internet usage through ways such as limiting screen time, closely monitoring children’s media usage, and shutting off the internet at night. Media should be a tool to develop and hone children’s growth. When used responsibly, media can serve as a tool to educate and develop language and mental skills.
The government, through the Film and Publications Board (FPB), has long been focusing its mandate on assisting parents in creating a safe media and internet environment. The Board has taken responsibility to protecting South Africa’s children from exposure to harmful content through digital age restriction, cyber safety awareness and responsible media consumption. The FPB Act (No 65 of 1996) finds this bliss point by balancing the right to freedom of expression with an obligation to protect children from exposure to potentially disturbing, harmful and inappropriate materials.
* Lia Naidoo is an Honours Graduate at the University of Pretoria, specialising in communication management and currently is an intern at the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS).