NORMAL, IL (KMOX) - Ever feel like your teenagers are bombarded with digital messages? "They need to be able to identify false information," says Stephen Hunt, Director of the School of Communication at Illinois State University. "they need to be trained to question the role of technology, whether it's legacy media or social media, all of it. Question the role that it plays in society and how it influences society."
Starting in the 2022-2023 academic year, media literacy will become part of Illinois high school curriculum. A new law signed this year requires districts to add a year of media literacy education to their current computer science curriculum.
Hunt has more than two decades experience in media literacy research and education and tells KMOX it's important for young people to learn to think critically and ask questions about what they see and hear online. "Who's advocating this? What are their qualifications? What biases or incentives might they have to make the argument that they're making? And is this trustworthy and reliable? Do other sources of information support the same conclusion or is this a spurious kind of a conclusion that is being made?"
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Illinois is one of roughly a dozen states to make media literacy education a focus. The law signed by Governor Pritzker asks schools to include the study of media platforms and analysis of media messages. Opponents of the measure have questioned whether the mandate could be used to push certain political or cultural viewpoints on students. "If we can't agree on a set of facts and a reality, there's no way democracy will function," stresses Hunt. "I think that we can do that in a non-partisan, non-political kind of way. I think we can teach people how to be able to check their facts, how to identify sources of misinformation, and how to find reliable information in a non-political way." He adds, he also thinks it is important to teach young people how to engage in civic dialogue, both online and in person. The State Board of Education is charged with providing resources and guidance for schools prior to the 2022-23 school year.
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