It's Complicated: The Idea Of Digital Literacy

Many of us tend to overlook the technology we use and how tremendously it has developed throughout the years. Most people use electronic devices like laptops, tablets, and smart phones daily, just like how they would use a microwave or vacuum. However, we do not look into details of the programs and knowledge that went into creating these devices. Those who develop the skills and knowledge of technology become digitally literate. I have collected a sample of authors who each have a stand on the issue of whether digital literacy is important for those who use electronics. Danah Boyd, scholar, researcher, and advocated worker for Microsoft, NYU, and Harvard, expresses her opinion in her novel It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, specifically in the chapter

She does consider that digital inequality is among the younger generation, so the resources that are available vary for each group. Howard Rheingold, critic, writer, and specialist on culture, social and political connection of modern communication media, displays his idea of digital literacy in his article “Stewards of Digital Literacies.” Rheingold agrees that digital literacy needs to be taught to truly participate, additionally illustrates that librarians can be a resource people can use to learn digital literacy from. The key to learning successfully is to be social with others and not to learn alone. In another article “Digital Divides the Poor” by Anne C. Lewis adds her view on digital inequality among young students which extends Boyd’s argument. Lewis presented facts from a research conducted by an organization to show those who have low-income have limited resource to electronics to help them at school. Having digital inequality among students was reflected in their work. Those who were limited were not able to perform their best, as those who had more