Smartphone and social networks as enablers of media and digital literacy in children and adolescent: Musical.ly.

Abstract

The high penetration of smartphones, especially among children and adolescents has allowed the access to this public to social networks, which have become important areas of socialization for them. Used as mechanisms for participation, integration and social interaction, social networks are used by children and adolescents as natural scenarios in their development. The aim of this work has been to offer a pedagogical approach to the study of social networks, as communicative and competence development spaces, presenting a case study of Musical.ly network. The choice of this social network is justified by the fact that among its 200 million users, the majority are adolescents and children between 11 and 16 years old. The methodology used for the study was a qualitative analysis of content based on the theories of mediated communication. Based on the study of the media structure of the network, as well as the actions it allows, this work provides evidence of the relationship that exists between the actions carried out when using the social network with the competence development of media and digital literacy, opening an interesting field of research that proposes social networks as learning tools.