Education and Didactics

Digital Media May Cultivate Awareness and Responsibility in Users: a Case for Optimism

Authors: Lawrence Gorman, Maria Polski
Comments: 15 Pages. [P]ublished in Explorations in Media Ecology https://doi.org/10.1386/eme_00099_1

Every major communication technology has identifiable "potentialities" that reshape culture, cognition, and social organization. The potentialities of digital communication technologies include, on the one hand, broad but superficial engagement, unreflective emotional reactions, and tribalism; on the other hand, they enable cosmopolitan attitudes and the expansion of our circle of care; in addition, digital communication technology turns the users' attention to the users' own choices. This article argues that reflective engagement with digital media can promote awareness and responsibility. We propose that school curricula focus more on understanding cognitive biases, recognizing nuances, postponing judgment, being aware of the potentialities of digital communication, and being aware of one's own choices. We draw on historical comparisons with earlier communication transitions, and in the Conclusion section, we provide a link to the Reader with assignments that can be used as a framework for the purposeful adaptation of the new medium. Challenges to the ideas of this paper are addressed in Appendix 2 through "Disputation between The Skeptic and The Believer".
Category: Education and Didactics