Internet Literacy Among Young

People in the 21st Century

Nancy Cheever, Communications Department

Larry Rosen, Psychology Department

California State University, Dominguez Hills

Western Psychological Association Conference

Portland, OR ● April 24, 2009

Introduction

Young people use the

Internet, more than

any other source, to

seek out information

and entertainment

Introduction

Popular websites’ information becomes most important

• Top five websites for 13- to 17-year-old boys (2008):– YouTube– Facebook– Google– Yahoo– ESPN

• Top five websites for 13- to 17-year-old girls (2008): – Facebook– Google– YouTube– MySpace– Yahoo

Introduction

How accurate is

the information

they are receiving?

Do they understand

the messages and

information they

seek and find?

Background

• Internet = modern “wild, wild, west” – very little regulation of content– accuracy levels vary widely

• Accessibility of Internet information makes it

easy for young people to locate information

• But are they locating and using the best information available?

Background

21st Century young people trust

Internet information

• They use Wikipedia even

though they may be aware that

its information may be flawed

• They trade opinions online and

trust their peers more than

printed published opinions

from experts

21st Century Young People

• Children are more

susceptible to media

messages because they

process them differently

than adults – (Strasburger & Wilson, 2002)

Five mental tasks involved when child interacts with

Internet (Piaget, adapted from Singer & Revenson, 1996):

1) child selects the important information for processing

2) child takes information and applies it to previous messages

3) child draws inferences from the implicit cues in the message

4) child must draw on past experiences and memories to explain the cues in the messages

5) child evaluates the message and decides whether it is positive or negative

21st Century Young People

Related Studies

• Students do not possess optimal

Internet skills, both in searching for

and evaluating websites

• In test of literacy, students had either

too much information to wade

through, or simply did not take the

time to find the best information

– (Bond, Fevyer & Pitt, 2006)

Related Studies

• Students lack skills to critically analyze

found information

• They assume that all the information is

equal, truthful, and has the same value

– Wood (2004)

Related Studies

• Students tend to “self learn” how to search for

information using the Internet

• Self learning does not help them learn basic search skills

• Self learning does not support problem-solving skills

– Bond, et al (2006)

Children lack experience from which to draw and

process information

Young people have fewer points of context from which

to draw and process information

Children’s evaluative aptitude lacking

Not sophisticated enough to make sound judgments

about content value

21st Century Young People

Purpose

How can parents and educators teach

children how to have Internet literacy

when young people implicitly trust the

Internet and believe all the information

they seek?

What We Know …

21st Century Young People

• Learn differently than previous generations

– they are multi-taskers

– they enjoy social networking

– they interact with several types of technology at once

– they want to be entertained

– they need a multi-media approach to education

Young People Use Wikipedia• Usually appears in first five results of Google search

• 8th most trafficked site on Internet– Britannica.com ranks 4,430th

• Employs no experts

• Brittanica.com– 4,000 expert contributors– 100 Nobel Prize winners– more than 100 full-time employees, including highly

trained editors– not free

Young People Use Wikipedia

• Content written and edited by anyone

– no authors listed

– both experts and non-experts write and edit

information

• Material is in constant state of revision

• Company acknowledges its limitations and lack of

accuracy in various entries

• Strides are being made to inform public of varying

levels of accuracy

Young People Read BLOGS

• Written by anyone

• Material is not vetted through editors– unverified information– bloggers can frame issue any way they please

• Challenges traditional journalism because of its ability to

change minds

• Blogs are not a major news source– (Hargrove & Stempel, 2007)

Credible Internet Sources

• A credible online source, or website, defined:

– one that provides correct information without bias– contains material written by experts who are

trustworthy

• Source credibility adds to increased use of websites – (Greer, 2003)

• Diversity of information increases perceived credibility of Internet sources – (Choi, Watt & Lynch, 2006)

2008 Internet Credibility Study

Percentage of respondents who are likely to use various sources when searching for information about a topic_________________________________________________

Source % who are likely to use _________________________________________________

General website 91% Wikipedia 77% Library book 58% Online book 46% Printed Encyclopedia 43%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

First linkonly

First twolinks

First fivelinks

First tenlinks

All links onfirst page

Links onany of first2-3 pages

Links onmore than 3

pages

Percentage of respondents who use various numbers of Google links searching for information about a topic

Other

2008 Internet Credibility Study

• Young people are willing to use unreliable and unverified

material because it is free and readily available

• Trusting individuals trust unverified information sources

• Website credibility not often checked

• Source credibility creates a false sense of validity and

believability of information

So What?

• Potentially creating an information

illiterate generation that cannot evaluate

information

• Could contribute to the “Dumbing Down”

effect already attributed to news media

So What?

• Idiocracy?

Approaches

• Published approaches to this problem include:

– librarian-written manuals helping students become literate in online information

– guides that help students identify credible

sources from a variety of search engines

• (Henry, 2006)

SolutionsWE …• Cannot change content

• Cannot go back to demanding use of verified printed sources

WE …

• Can change the way we teach young people to interact

with content

• Can understand that in many cases this generation

learns differently than the people educating them

Solutions

• Understand the content young

people are exposed to and

seek out

• Become more involved in

young people’s Internet

activities

• Explain Internet credibility

Solutions

EXPLAIN WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON INTERNET SITES:

• Information that includes names of authors and their

credentials.

• Does the author of the material have authority,

credentials, qualifications or credible affiliations?

• Are the authors experts in their field or simply passive

observers?

• Be sure author’s contact information is included

Solutions

• Look for detailed information that has credible, peer

reviewed references

• Look for information that is comparable to similar print

resources

• Look for objective information

• Look for current information

• Text should be free of spelling and typing errors

Solutions

• Understand differences between:

– Corporate, business or marketing websites (.com)

– Another type of organization such as a news organization (.com)

– Advocacy group promoting a point-of-view; non-profit

organization (.org)

– Personal web pages (-)

– Informational page by an educational institution (.edu)

– Informational page sponsored by a governmental agency (.gov)

Solutions

• When explaining Internet

credibility issues to young

people, understand they:

– are multi-taskers– are social networkers– interact with several types of

technology at once– want to be entertained– need a multi-media approach

to learning

Thank You