Social media plays a major role in the lives of today’s youth. The 2021 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) report stated that 91% of grade 7-12 students use social media. We know that children younger than 13 are also using social media. Social media can be useful in a lot of situations such as sharing information, marketing ideas and products, and interacting with friend and family all over the world. Social Media can also come with some risks. Some of the resources below may be helpful to mitigate some of the risks associate with the use of social media.
MediaSmarts, a Canadian non-profit organization for digital and media literacy describes the competencies for digital literacy and media literacy as complementary and mutually supporting and constantly evolving and intersecting in new and interesting way. It defines the supporting role each plays as “media literacy generally focuses on teaching youth to be critically engaged consumers of media, while digital literacy is more about enabling youth to participate in digital media in wise, safe and ethical ways.”
The links below offer detailed information, lesson plans and classroom resources to support media and digital literacy to develop critical thinking skills and informed, engaged, resilient youth.
