What counts as literacy?

How we assess literacy is highly contextual and nuanced. We cannot ignore how access and environments contribute to how we value the new forms of communication that is ever changing digitally and online. We have seen that children are highly capable to learn these new skills, but there's much less discussion on the harmful effects of focusing on one medium as the one and only. It seems that putting all our eggs in one basket is neglecting other forms of literacy that can provide a much richer experience. There are many opinions and studies that disagree; but we are also noticing many new problems (dopamine depletion from social media and games) that face children and adults from the use of digital devices constantly.  We need discernment on who is creating/developing the curriculum. Are teachers/schools utilizing critical thinking when we follow the trends, do they have autonomy on what happens in the classroom? Is it collaborative on the many systems within a school environment?

My thoughts on this are based on my own preferred ideology that learning should be learner (child) centered; there is almost a scarcity mindset by parents and adults that if children don't learn to use these mediums immediately, they will be left behind. In the New York Times article, "Online, R U really reading?", there is a debate on the future of reading, the dying interest in reading print books and that children are not interested in reading anymore. I have a critique in that we focus narrowly on the scholarly/academics of digital mediums as the only reason why we have issue. We can look at how it affects learning in all aspects, and the idea that as a human being, we are all easily distracted when we are exposed to so much information and the possibility of this bombardment without the regulation skills to manage it. We have data on the effects of screens, the addictive and enticing instant consumption, are we literate when we are in these states?  When you read a book, or an article without multiple tabs/windows, you have to focus. You have to have attention. You need these skills to use this. Just as we need the skills to learn about driving before, we start driving. When we look at media literacy, information literacy and digital literacy, we are aware that we need to not only utilize developmentally appropriate education regarding those skills but also a scaffolding approach to the use of such mediums. Do we need to use a digital medium for all skills just because we live in a society that is highly digital? Personally, I live a very low-tech lifestyle, and my children are not "behind" because of it. They use the tools they need to for their educational requirements, but they have so many other ways of engaging. They also love to read books and can also climb trees and participate in imaginative ways with nothing entertaining them. 

There is a balance in the way in which we can use the online world to expose and provide access to many other thoughts, cultures that was never accessible before. However, what remains unchanged is our neurobiology. Our ability to self-regulate, to focus, to have fine motor skills, to move our bodies - we can try to emulate this in VR and the digital world, but it doesn't come close.  All of this has an increase impact in how effective digital mediums can be utilized for learning. The question isn't that online reading and interaction should be counted as literacy, it IS literacy, and it is only recently have we realized that a critical and reflexive lens and a foundation of basic skills to ask questions prepares a learner. What does it mean to use online and digital platforms with intention and ethically? We can't ask these questions nor possibly ascribe responsibility to children that are not developmentally capable of such a responsibility. I believe that technology and the digital mediums such as online requires that we know the limits of such tools, as well as the dangers. How can new media such as online and social media be utilized as a tool? 

It is pretty explicit we value digital literacy more than other forms of literacy, because its applicable more than ever. Every day we have to orient ourselves to the ethics and responsibilities of what it means to be a "good digital citizen". We should not put this enormous responsibility entirely on children and teenagers without helping them navigate the pitfalls of using this as our only form of literacy. Every human is so different, it prevents access to learning by utilizing one model. It is clear that in many alternative schools, occupational therapists, mental health therapists and neurobiologists find the following to be true:  that toddlers and young children need to move their bodies, adolescents and adults too! Everyone benefits from time outside, moving their bodies, using their hands and having experiences with all senses. We all long for a sense of connection with environment and community. We know that these things work in ways we don't fully understand, and we continue to find evidence that these basic things are true and that only one form of knowledge is not the only way. We have to be honest and understand fully what online media does to the developing brain. The world changes as technology changes but our biological needs remain the same and don't evolve at the same rate. We need more for literacy than print and digital mediums. This is also where decolonized learning methodologies have wisdom we can pull from. 

Literacy is also intersectional. Access to many forms of literacy is simply unattainable to many children and for many vulnerable families. What does it mean to have children that have access to environmental spaces even in urban settings that expose them to the land they live on, what plants are around them, can they name native plant species, can they use books to find information to learn about a specific interest? What of body literacy and community rituals and gatherings? Does the online platform take place of what is not accessible to folks? It seems that through it all, sometimes people just want to belong, and will find the ways to get this sense of belonging. There is a self-literacy, and regardless of the medium we tend to gravitate towards that in ways positive or negative. There is no right answer to how we should believe what education should be or is, but there are foundational aspects that we cannot argue on when it comes to development. These should be taken into account when we look at education. Prior to technology, we would look at other cultures and other forms of literacy as illiterate. Literacy is in the context of who/what is in power.

For me, I am more interested in ways that adolescents and adults can use the medium of online learning and media in a collaborative and creative way. How can we contextualize our knowledge and use the online platform to showcase this? How can we look at social movements that take place on the digital space and learn from it. I would like to see us move from the operational / skills perspective of using technology to the cultural and creative way. We can use it as one part of literacy, we can use it as part of efficiency to collect a variety of data/metrics and to increase access. It is forever nuance, and it will always depend. However, we could really use less of the digital world in our classrooms. I don't think it is serving our students.