Digital Literacy Theory

“Our ability to adapt to the web as it adapts to us will determine its future and our own” -Paul Gilster

Literacy is generally termed as an individual’s basic ability to read and write. Literacy takes an intrinsic part in our society and is seen as a tool for empowerment, it enables individuals to participate and contribute to the society that they live in (Jones-Kavalier & Flannigan, 2006). Prior to 21st century, literacy was conventionally perceived as the set of skills to read, write and count (Jones-Kavalier & Flannigan, 2006). But with the advent of new millennium, literacy has expanded and has assumed new meanings

The core competencies that his theories explored are internet searching, hypertext navigation, knowledge assembly and content evaluation (Bawden, 2008). He changed the generic view of digital literacy which was merely perceived as the possession of technical skills and stated that the digital literacy is about mastering ideas rather than key strokes (Bawden, 2008). He suggested that the digital literacy is about having digital skills to imply it to everyday life (Gilster, 1997). One important contribution to the theory and concept of digital literacy was given in the research by Eshet- Alkalai and Amchai Hamburger(2004). They proposed a conceptual model of digital literacy that describes five major characteristics of digital literacy, which was not present in Paul Gilster’s theories. They suggested that the Digital literacy is not merely about the ability to operate the digital device, use the software and have knowledge about the digital hardware (Amichai-Hamburger, 2004). It is a complex set of cognitive, motoric, sociological, and emotional skills that users too need to possess, in order to function well in digital environment (Amichai-Hamburger, 2004). The five characteristics of digital literacy are photo-visual skills

Digital literacy is seen as the sign of social change where the society has shifted from information society to knowledge society, and in this form of society, digital literacy plays a crucial role that allows individuals to participate, contribute and fully function in the society. Thus, digital knowledge tends to have a direct effect on psychological behavior of the people living in this millennia and as the world around is driven by digital technology, it can be seen that everyday lives of people is immersed in digital world. Hence this study is conducted with an aim to understand the influence of digital literacy on quality of life of the individuals living in digital era. Based on the limited literature obtained, the concept of quality of life and digital literacy is under-researched especially in the Indian context leading to the gap in knowledge. As digital literacy is a concept that is introduced just two decades ago, the study tries to access the generational effect of digital literacy among young and old adults and tries to understand the difference in quality of life among these two