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Digital Literacy Decoded
92 Plays15 days ago
Andrew, a father of two and lifelong gamer, teams up with Brandon, a consumer psychologist and ex-pro video game coach, to cover video games, the way they are designed and how these design decisions impact the children that play them.
In this solo episode, Andrew gives his view on the "digital literacy" argument that opponents of giving children Smartphone Free Childhoods frequently raise.
https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-021-00301-5
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to The Dopamine Slot Machine Podcast
00:00:11
Andrew Wilmot
Good morning, good day, good evening. Whenever you are, welcome to The Dopamine Slot Machine, the podcast that discusses what you need to know about the video games your children are playing. How are they designed to get your kids hooked?
00:00:22
Andrew Wilmot
How to make money from your children? And what can you do to make sure that your child's relationship with video games is a positive one? My name is Andrew. I'm a dad of two and a lifelong gamer. And today I'm on my own again. I'm talking digital literacy. You guys have responded well to a couple of the solo ones we've done following up on conversations we've had.
00:00:41
Andrew Wilmot
So after last week's EdTech episode, I thought I would dive into a little bit about digital literacy, some of the response. And yeah, so let's go.
Defining Digital Literacy
00:00:54
Andrew Wilmot
Before we continue, let's define digital literacy. The NHS defines it as those capabilities that fit someone for living, learning, working, participating and thriving in a digital society.
00:01:07
Andrew Wilmot
And you'll find similar definitions put elsewhere. That doesn't actually give a set of standards for digital literacy, whereas you know we would can be quite explicit defining literacy as being able to read and write.
00:01:24
Andrew Wilmot
What skills actually go into literacy, ah digital literacy? As a tech professional and as someone who used to help out hackathons where we invited local schools to participate, and as someone who grew up with my own computer from a very young age, I have my own biases.
00:01:39
Andrew Wilmot
For the sake of this discussion, I am going to give these following skills as the foundation for digital literacy. So number one, can you effectively use both synchronous and asynchronous digital communication tools?
00:01:53
Andrew Wilmot
By that I mean synchronous messaging, calling someone. can you Can you phone somebody if you have their number? Alternatively, can you use video chat? Can you use Zoom, Teams?
00:02:06
Andrew Wilmot
um Asynchronous, that's your emails. Can can you send an email? Can you send an email with an attachment? Can you send a Facebook message? Can you send a WhatsApp message? So can you communicate digitally?
00:02:21
Andrew Wilmot
Second point, can you create, edit, save, and send documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks? So this is really your basic, can you put together a document? Can you edit it? what What sort of manipulation can you do for the document? And that's kind of what IT t lessons, my experience of them 20 years ago was.
00:02:43
Andrew Wilmot
And those are the basic skills for most office jobs.
Balancing Phone Use in Schools
00:02:48
Andrew Wilmot
Can you search for, critically evaluate and effectively use information on the internet?
00:02:54
Andrew Wilmot
And can you install, configure and uninstall programs or apps on both desktop and mobile operating systems? And finally, can you perform basic troubleshooting on your devices?
00:03:07
Andrew Wilmot
I don't think this is a hugely demanding list. I'm not talking the ability to set up a printer, although I'd hope that the points regarding searching for information would cover this. These are very basic digital skills required to do the majority of office jobs. And it's the sort of thing that when I entered secondary school 20 years ago, my entire class could already do.
00:03:29
Andrew Wilmot
One of the most common areas of pushback we see against smartphone free childhoods is an emphasis on the importance of digital literacy. I'm actually going to quote verbatim a statement from Dr. Robert Harrison, Director of Education and Integrated Technology at ACS International Schools.
00:03:45
Andrew Wilmot
which I saw in the Guardian today. um It is incredibly disappointing to read that so many schools in England have implemented an outright ban on phone use. While student engagement and the addiction to phones and social media certainly need to be addressed, schools are more likely to support students' development if they teach them how to use technology in ways that they the healthy, purposeful and life-enhancing.
00:04:05
Andrew Wilmot
A balanced, nuanced approach to phone use can still promote social interaction for children of all ages and encourage learning beyond the classroom. All students should be equipped to access quality information and transfer knowledge quicker in the pursuit of independent learning.
00:04:18
Andrew Wilmot
If phones or tablets can help achieve that goal, maybe we should not be so quick to dismiss them in schools. Shouldn't we instead aim to help students become confident in using digital devices in and out of school?
00:04:28
Andrew Wilmot
How else will young people learn how to think critically and navigate online spaces filled with disinformation that is supercharged by artificial intelligence? There's a lot to cover here.
00:04:39
Andrew Wilmot
First is the collation of phones and tablets under the broad umbrella of technology. I don't think anybody is going to disagree with the statement that it's important to teach children how to use technology, but the evidence is now pretty overwhelming that mobile technology use comes with significant negative impacts.
Negative Impacts of Mobile Technology
00:04:57
Andrew Wilmot
In fact, in my experience, and I am not an education professional, I've just done some outreach, and just from what I see myself, heavy reliance on tablets and smartphones due to how streamlined that experience is, I mean, just compare installing an app from an app store with installing a program on your computer,
00:05:14
Andrew Wilmot
as an example, actively harms children's ability to use technology effectively. I believe that wholehearted. i I strongly believe that having a family computer is a good thing. and we'll We'll touch on that in and a minute.
00:05:29
Andrew Wilmot
There was actually a ah meme i came across, a set of funny tweets. um The first one from Twitter user, Ozempic Gandolfini,
00:05:40
Andrew Wilmot
says, I don't think you should give kids phones or iPads, but you should give them free access to a desktop computer. Another user, EllisL replies, iPads have no soul, but desktop computer is like a nervous horse and has the capacity for love.
00:05:57
Andrew Wilmot
And obviously taking the mickey here is a joke. um Nobody's suggesting that desktops can love you. I think it does speak to the difference between using an iPad and using a computer and the difference in skills as well.
00:06:14
Andrew Wilmot
But going back to going back to the the statement from ah Dr. Robert Harrison, it's the last paragraph which is really getting to me.
00:06:25
Andrew Wilmot
And just to repeat that, how else will young people learn how to think critically and navigate online spaces filled with disinformation that is supercharged by artificial intelligence? so I don't think the answer is to have them using smart devices for hours a day and in far too many cases, even before they can walk.
00:06:41
Andrew Wilmot
Critical thinking is a super important skill, but is taught brilliantly in history, in English, in religious education, I recently recorded a video from my old school speaking about the benefits of studying the classics.
00:06:54
Andrew Wilmot
And one of the things I emphasise in that is the critical thinking you have to learn to evaluate sources that are thousands of years old, presenting themselves as indisputable
Teaching Critical Thinking and Combating Disinformation
00:07:03
Andrew Wilmot
truth.
00:07:04
Andrew Wilmot
We've been teaching children critical thinking this whole time. well do do you think that we just analyse Shakespeare because... you know, they're going to be using, coming across ah dilemmas in their adult life, which really depend on a thorough understanding of Macbeth.
00:07:23
Andrew Wilmot
No, it's because it's a vehicle to teach quality critical thinking skills.
00:07:28
Andrew Wilmot
Additionally, we know, and it's one of the few ah replicable things in psychology, we know that repeated exposure to disinformation, even when we know it is disinformation, primes us to accept that disinformation as fact.
00:07:44
Andrew Wilmot
From a paper, which I'll link in the description, on the effects of repetition frequency on the illusory truth effect, the illusory truth effect, which is sometimes also referred disinformation, the repetition truth effect has now been replicated many times.
00:07:57
Andrew Wilmot
And a meta-analysis showed that when compar comparing verbatim repetitions to novel information, it is a medium effect size. Or in other words, the idea that we can inoculate children against misinformation by showing it to them and teaching them about it is ill-informed.
00:08:19
Andrew Wilmot
The worst thing we can do in the mission to empower our children against disinformation is to expose them to it over and over and over and over again, which if they have a smartphone, that's what's happening.
00:08:29
Andrew Wilmot
If they have TikTok, that is what is happening to them.
Improving Digital Literacy Strategies
00:08:32
Andrew Wilmot
So what can we do to improve digital literacy? Because the idea that giving them phones and letting them use them in class is an utterly failed experiment.
00:08:42
Andrew Wilmot
There is nothing to support that technology. as beneficial to improving digital literacy and there's growing mountains of evidence of the harm that it is doing. him So you'll have to find your own answer on how to impart digital literacy on your children.
00:08:58
Andrew Wilmot
But here is some of what we've done. So first and most important thing is having that ongoing conversation with your child. If you've already given your child a smartphone or a tablet, then, and no judgment here,
00:09:13
Andrew Wilmot
then you have to acknowledge two things. One, that smartphone or tablet will have already become an extension of their self and identity, and taking it away is going to be painful for them.
00:09:24
Andrew Wilmot
Even if you haven't given them a device yet, they will rapidly see that they are the odd one out amongst their peers, and rather than reflecting on just how lucky they are to have such forward-thinking, caring parents, they're probably going to find it very unfair.
00:09:38
Andrew Wilmot
You have to make this a bi-directional conversation rather than just ah Matilda's dad-esque, I'm smart, you're dumb, I'm big, you're small, I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it. That sort of diktat is going to be counterproductive.
00:09:52
Andrew Wilmot
Now, with our daughter, in as age-appropriate a way as possible, we have discussed about addictive design and fact that it's not a nice feeling to feel like you have to constantly be checking your phone, that you have to be constantly ah watching something, that feeling compelled to do something against your will takes a lot of the perceived fun out of that activity.
00:10:18
Andrew Wilmot
And she will also talk to us about, yeah, she does feel left out of and when all our friends are talking about playing ah Dressed to Impress is a recently popular game on Roblox.
00:10:32
Andrew Wilmot
But we can also have that conversation in return about why we are making the decisions we're making here. Now, this doesn't directly feed into digital literacy, but if you want to stem the harm, but there's no way to decouple digital literacy from the harm that smartphones and tablets do, in my view.
00:10:50
Andrew Wilmot
Which brings me on to the second thing, bin the smart devices. These do not help digital literacy beyond training your child to fluently consume media across several different apps. And to me, that is not digital literacy.
00:11:03
Andrew Wilmot
Now, you might not necessarily literally bin them, but in the context pairing your child for the digital world, they aren't at all to be used. Quite often, you might ah have homework apps, times table, rock stars, spelling shed.
00:11:19
Andrew Wilmot
How can you expect your child to focus on homework using a tablet, which is completely contextualized outside of that as a source of addictive distraction? You can't. We do have to use these apps.
00:11:31
Andrew Wilmot
Currently, we have a dedicated homework tablet, and that's what it's used for. It's not used for recreation. it's not used for entertainment. It might occasionally, if we've got a very long journey somewhere, see some use there.
00:11:46
Andrew Wilmot
But, you know, that you're talking two to three times a year Which brings me on to my final point, our final plan, and that is getting a desktop computer.
Using Family Computers to Reduce Social Media Harms
00:11:58
Andrew Wilmot
It's maybe a bit old fashioned, but a desktop set up in a family room with the appropriate controls is great. So many of the harms from social media and tech use are going to be massively reduced when the internet is a place they go to, when the computer is a place they go to, rather than something that they're carrying around with them from bedroom to bathroom to dining table to school.
00:12:18
Andrew Wilmot
putting aside the parental controls element of it, it being that portal to then be learning about ah word processing, um doing simple calculations in a spreadsheet.
00:12:31
Andrew Wilmot
I mean, that's an that's an activity. if If your child has, your child earns pocket money, then you can very easily say, well, let's plan out ah some saving for that. what What are some items that you really want Let's sit down together, do some online shopping and get some prices, put it into a spreadsheet and work how long it'll take to get them. um And then what does it look like if you're only saving half your pocket money?
00:12:58
Andrew Wilmot
Activities like that are so powerful, so easy to do. And if you've got a family computer set up, it will feel quite organic to do.
Live Webinar Announcement on Roblox Risks
00:13:12
Andrew Wilmot
Now, That's what I wanted to talk about today, but I actually do have a special announcement. So we're going to be running our first live webinar covering the risks and realities of Roblox by exploring examples of popular Roblox games that exemplify the issues we're raising.
00:13:29
Andrew Wilmot
This isn't going to be an arm's length. Oh, addictive design is bad. And you you might see that with ah with with random, but with the variable randomness rewards.
00:13:41
Andrew Wilmot
No. We're going to be taking a selection of games. We're going to be playing those games in the webinar, highlighting the specific elements that we are concerned about.
00:13:52
Andrew Wilmot
And we're going to be tackling three key points. So obviously addictive design, inappropriate content, and how disturbing content andun and communities get through filtering.
00:14:07
Andrew Wilmot
As of recording, this is planned for Wednesday the 28th of May from 7.30pm. The details might shift. It will be free, so we're not charging anybody to turn up for this.
00:14:19
Andrew Wilmot
And once the final details are planned, I will share an Eventbrite link on our page.
Podcast Closing and Listener Engagement
00:14:24
Andrew Wilmot
So don't forget, if you've got some questions for us, or if you or your children have been impacted by the issues we've discussed today, that you can get in touch with us on our website, thedopamineslockmachine.co.uk, or find us on the Dopamine Slot Machine Discussion Corner Facebook group.
00:14:39
Andrew Wilmot
All links can be found in our artist profile. We'd love to hear from you. That's all we've got time for today. Thank you so much for joining us. We'd love to have you here with us again in our next episode, which, as mentioned, is going to be a another Q&A episode to celebrate getting to 200 subscribers. Thank you all so much for doing that. I can't imagine 200. That's a small primary school.
00:14:59
Andrew Wilmot
That's a small primary school of listeners. And the messages we get ah about... how it's helped you make more informed choices about the games that you let your children play.
00:15:11
Andrew Wilmot
It really makes it all worthwhile. If we can help you and your children have a more positive relationship with gaming, then every episode has been worth it.
00:15:22
Andrew Wilmot
Anyway, so this has been the dopamine slot machine. Thank you and see you soon.