I started this week’s reading with Girl Wide Web 2.0, just to get a feel for the new book. I realized quickly that she was very informed to say the least. I knew that developing countries were struggling more than we are when it comes to literacy period, but I never really thought about media and digital literacy. Women are now more involved with activities that were once forbidden, “these changes, often brought about by economic necessity,” (Mazzarella pg.9) is a big statement, for the world to finally see that women are needed for more than the “traditional” stay at home and cook role. While this advancement is a wonderful thing, it occupies their time in ways that were never present in their lives in the past. A whole new world is opening up to women all over the globe in terms of not only their roles but the digital access and media that they are now exposed to in their new advancements as a gender.
Another hot topic that was touched on was poverty and its relationship to education. Showing that women who were educated, and allowed to be educated decreased the rate of mortality and fertility. The armor that a good education can produce for women is invaluable in so many ways. In the Dominican Republic a “program established public access community technology centers, or telecenteres, in the poorest areas of the nation.” (Mazzarella pg.11) This goes without saying, but giving girls another option, rather than getting pregnant at 16 and dropping out of school. To be able to learn things they might not be able to receive in school, is priceless and the fact that they are offering these types of centers to the less fortunate is a sign of better times ahead. It is great to see that people are starting to realize that digital literacy is a necessity and the fact that it can now be found in poverty stricken areas is astounding. It is very important that girls and women in these areas are taught what to do with all of this information that is right at their fingertips and how they can process it all to their benefit.
Indeed with the youth now acquiring knowledge digitally it is important to make sure they are taking in quality information that can ultimately lead to the development of success.We can be proactive in encouraging girls to be more critical of views and consumers of media. It is important we lead by example to the younger girls in our lives. I believe this principle applies to many things in life but for this topic specifically how to be more objective in terms of digital information and literacy. Young girls must ask themselves if the information that they are being exposed to digitally and through the media is worthy of them “buying into” the message that is coming across. Aside from leading by example, we have a responsibility to our youth and ourselves to analyze from several different perspectives what we are seeing digitally and through the eyes of the media. Clearly, there is a lot of ‘noise’ and nonsense that can be delivered digitally and through the media and we should teach young girls the difference between the garbage and the good stuff. As our eyes skim the screens we must not take the messages and process them as truth right away. Rather, we should be going through a mental process and be more critical of the media and the information. This should be taught to girls and teenagers to make sure they are equipped with the proper understanding of what to do with all that is out there in the digital/media world. I would imagine that Kearny would suggest intertwining the two (learning how to become digitally literate and the pros and cons of having so much information at the touch of a button) overall I think it was an interesting look into the lives of these young women.
-Melissa King
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