Information Literacy

Education for the Digital Age

Anubhuti Yadav
Anubhuti Yadav
Head of the Department of New Media, Indian Institute of Mass Communication |

If we teach today what we taught yesterday, we do a disservice to the future of our children.

Children today constantly interact with online media and consider it as one of the important sources of learning. Online media is as much a source of knowledge for them as it is a source of entertainment. But as our children learn how to speak and think and behave in our societies, adopting cultures and traditions as they grow up, are they learning enough about the role they play in the online world as responsible digital citizens?

Until now, the focus has been on teaching our children how to read and write, but today there is an increasing need to focus on media and information literacy. It’s important to make them aware of the impact they can have on their peers, even if they sit miles away. Because unlike our communities in different parts of the world, the digital world has no geographic boundaries.

Being an educator, I think modern education for the digital age is what enables young people to question what they read, and consume and share information responsibly.

- Anubhuti Yadav, Nov 2019