California Looking To Pass Useful Bill To Teach More Media Literacy In Schools
As we've been covering over the last few years, there's been an almost entirely unsubstantiated moral panic over kids and social media." This is despite the fact that multiple large scale studies have found that way more kids have benefitted from social media than have been harmed by it. As we've noted time and time again, there are definitely a few examples of extreme cases of some kids who have difficulty dealing with certain aspects of the internet, but as the American Psychological Association noted in its recent report, the appropriate action here is to focus on helping those kids, rather than taking away social media from all the other kids it helps. But one other thing that the APA (and others) have put a big emphasis on is better educating kids in media and social media literacy.
Given that all of the actual research suggests that there is just a small percentage of kids susceptible to falling down more dangerous rabbit holes on the internet, this seems like a wise move, and could hopefully help some at risk kids from falling for those traps. It could also have wider benefits in terms of kids recognizing if one of their classmates may be struggling as well, and helping to find help for them.
But, for some reason, most politicians have preferred to lean into the whole moral panic aspect of this all, pushing bills that include outright bans for kids on social media, or intrusive age verification or age appropriate" design, which falsely pretend that all social media is bad for kids.
Considering that we've seen many of these kinds of bills in California, it's notable that another bill has been moving through the California legislature with little fanfare... that actually seems like it would pretty good for kids on the issue of social media: AB 873 would have the curriculum committee that helps set California school curriculums consider adding more media literacy at every grade of school.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)California does not have an official media literacy curriculum framework to ensure the teaching of media literacy content to every pupil.
(2)The growing ubiquity of new forms of media necessitates the need for comprehensive media literacy education for all elementary and secondary pupils.
(3)The State of California has a strong interest in ensuring that its pupils are equipped to confront questions about the moral obligations and ethical standards regarding what appears on social media networks and digital platforms.
(4)The social implications of technological development are pervasive as over 90 percent of young adults use social media, and the reach and influence of digital media platforms will continue to expand.
(5)A Stanford University study showed that 82 percent of middle school pupils struggled to distinguish advertisements from news stories.
(6)The proliferation of online misinformation has posed risks to international peace, interfered with democratic decisionmaking, and threatened public health.
(7)The existing Model School Library Standards include the identification of the skills essential for pupils to be information literate, which includes media literacy content; however, these content standards are currently not included in any existing curriculum framework.
(8)Incorporating the Model Library Standards into the English language arts/English language development curriculum framework will ensure that all pupils receive more consistent instruction on these standards and that new instructional materials incorporate media literacy content.
(9)The inclusion of media literacy content within other existing curriculum frameworks will further integrate media literacy content into instruction that all pupils receive from kindergarten through grade 12.
(10)The frameworks will provide guidance in the instruction of media literacy, thereby building critical thinking skills and developing strategies to strengthen digital citizenship for every pupil.
(b)It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to ensure that all pupils in California are prepared with media literacy skills necessary to safely, responsibly, and critically consume and use social media and other forms of media.
I mean... this all seems perfectly reasonable? Having our schools actually educate our kids on media literacy and making them better digital citizens? Rather than treating them as helpless idiots who could never comprehend how to keep themselves safe online? It all seems... so reasonable.
The Assemblymember behind the bill, Marc Berman, also seems to recognize that this is more socially useful approach than some of those other bills:
Berman said as the spread of misinformation has become increasingly pervasive, it's essential young people view information through a critical lens. They need to know how to do their own research to confirm or deny the media they're exposed to, he said. He hopes by integrating media literacy into all subjects, it'll help students put misinformation into context and lessens its personal effect.
Empowering kids to help themselves? What a concept!
Anyway, the bill has been moving through the California legislature and I have no idea how likely it is to get anywhere. But given how we're often critical of bills about social media, I thought it was important to highlight smarter, better, more practical legislation, rather than the usual batch of nonsensical moral panic-induced legislation.