Are youths today media literate? A Singapore study on youth's awareness and perceived confidence in media literacy skills

Abstract

Although youths today are "born digital" and apparently conversant transposing across different media, it is unclear how media literate they are or think they are. Using Singapore youths (13-16 years old) as an example, this study investigates youth's perceived media literacy skills and their confidence in these skills. A total of 229 survey responses were collected from two local secondary schools. Findings revealed that of the 5 literacy skills identified by UNESCO, they scored well in awareness and confidence in skills as media consumers except lacked skills as media producers.