A Generational Change in Information Consumption: Approaches for Teaching Information Literacy

Abstract

20th century generations grew up with a worldview predicated on epistemological methods that enabled the discernment of concrete realities. With the emergence of the internet in the early 2000s as the primary means of information consumption, the 21st century’s concrete realities became less structured and more opaque. Generation Z and Generation Alpha now face a rate of information consumption that no other generation has experienced. Large portions of the information that they consume cannot readily be distinguished as fact or fiction.  In this new era of information consumption, teachers and librarians need to develop teaching strategies to help students develop 21st century information literacy skills. The social, psychological, and civic consequences of not teaching information literacy are too grave to be ignored.  

Keywords

Digital, Epistemology, Fiction, Generation, Information, Internet, Literacy, Nonfiction, Misinformation, Social Media, Teaching

Consuming Information Before the Internet   

I am old enough to remember a time when completing research assignments meant traveling to the public library or to my grandfather’s house to read the World Book Encyclopedia. In this pre-internet age, the resources I encountered created the perception that there were two categories of consumable information: fact and fiction.  This apparent delineation  allowed me to develop a worldview where I could consume reliable information vetted by credentialed professionals. Seemingly, these professionals took the time to make sure that the information within these resources was as close to fact as possible¹.

While using these resources helped me with my schoolwork and indulged my curiosities, what I was engaging in was something more significant than just the simple act of fact gathering. By using these resources, I was engaging in a generations-old cultural norm of consuming information through agreed-upon methods. At the time, these methods made me believe that I had a grip on what was true about the world and that I completely understood how to identify false or inaccurate information.  Understandably, this confidence was merely the naive bravado of a young mind. What I was actually experiencing were the epistemological limitations of the resources that I used to examine and consume information.  The libraries and World Books I frequented were the only means I had to construct my worldview when it came to the concepts of fact and fiction. 

While the cultural concepts advanced by these resources may have been faulty and limited in their reach, the epistemological approaches that they advanced helped entire generations build logically-consistent ideas that could be tested and affirmed. The generations turned to epistemological approaches such as the scientific method, the veil-of-ignorance, and positivism to act as the arbiter of utilitarian fact and fiction.  Using these methods to consume and vet information, 20th century generations built the automobile, developed antibiotics, expanded minority rights, invented the personal computer, and landed on the Moon.

These unparalleled generational achievements rested upon discernible methods that were able to elucidate concrete realities. The function of gathering and vetting information in the age of the internet and social media has challenged historical epistemological methods. A new set of epistemological methods are now needed for Generation Z (Gen Z) and Generation Alpha (Gen Alpha) to see a similar level of prosperity as their progenitors have. 

A Generational Crisis of Information Literacy

Generation Z (Gen Z) and Generation Alpha (Gen Alpha) have grown up with social media and algorithm-driven search engines as their main sources of information consumption². These digital platforms have enabled them to consume more information at a faster rate than any other generation. Unlike the libraries and World Books that I grew up with, the information that these generations consume is not readily distinguishable as fact or fiction. Most of the digital information that Gen Z and Gen Alpha consume is intentionally designed to excite, entertain, or enrage consumers, rather than factually educate them on a given topic. This information exacerbates the spread of social trends and emergent vernacular to create an environment that consumers fear being left out of.  By flooding digital platforms with incendiary information, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and social media companies strive to drive up engagement through manipulating and rewarding a consumer’s negativity bias or dopamine production (Anderson et al.).

Investigative journalist Johann Harri brilliantly examines this essential tenet of digital  information consumption in his book Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. Hari details how digital platforms predicate their optimization algorithms on the behavioral science of B.F. Skinner to train a consumer’s mind to be “…reprogrammed in [the] way that [their] clever (algorithm) designer[s] want…” (53). This reprogramming is intentionally designed to trigger and develop a pattern of addictive habits within consumers to drive up clicks and frequent revisits. Therefore, these digital platforms’ goal is to increase the “…minutes and hours of eyeballs on [a given] product” to drive up revenue (Hari 113).

This may explain why Gen Z and Gen Alpha do not visit the World Book Online at the same rate as past generations used its paper progenitor. The World Book Online has not been crafted to entice or frustrate users. As a result, it does not have the ability to attract and hold the attention of consumers in the way that other digital resources can. However, if this is the case for World Book online, why then is Wikipedia one of the most visited websites on the internet? Wikipedia is an encyclopedia much the same as World Book. Ostensibly, it has not leveraged a social media habit-forming approach to drive traffic towards its pages. While this question goes beyond the scope of this article, it is worth considering how Wikipedia has been able to break through the misinformation bubble of the internet to bring transparently credible information to billions of minds.

The apps and social media platforms that Gen Z and Gen Alpha enjoy so much are the very things inhibiting their ability to discern fact from fiction. Their brains have become habituated to accept and spread disinformation by the sophisticated use of behavioral psychology. Much of the misinformation they spread is done without nefarious intent to persuade or dissuade other consumers. However, there are malicious actors who desire to exercise the behavioral science underpinning digital platforms to incite socially destructive behaviors (Silva). With these novel circumstances facing entire generations of young learners, a nuanced epistemology of information literacy must be implemented in every K-12 school district.

Teaching Approaches

Over the course of my teaching career I have had the privilege of working with a series of outstanding librarians who have helped hone my approach to information literacy. Each librarian I have worked with has understood the generational challenge that young minds face when consuming digital information.  At the heart of this challenge is the severe lacuna which exists between “…young people’s perceived competence…” with apps and social media as digital natives and the high rate at which they spread misinformation (Breakstone et al.).

Developing information literacy skills for digital platforms is historically unprecedented. No generation prior to Gen Z or Gen Alpha had to contend with such a consuming and hostile information environment. Emerging technologies such as AI and linguistic user interfaces stand to only exacerbate this corrosive experience. The downstream civic, social, and psychological consequences of not teaching information literacy are too grave to be ignored and may have already begun to present themselves inauspiciously and dangerously. Now is the time for librarians and educators to implement new epistemological strategies to help students brave this new era of information consumption.

Strategy 1: The C.A.R.S Method

The C.A.R.S method of website evaluation is a widely distributed approach that many schools use to teach students the basics of discerning online fact from fiction . The librarian that I currently work with developed the handout found in Figure 1 for middle school students. She developed this handout from C.A.R.S. worksheets originally crafted by librarian Andy Spinks and the library staff at Colorado State University.  Within all of these handouts and worksheets, each letter in the C.A.R.S acronym identifies a domain of evaluative criteria which students are required to find when using online resources. Figure 1 displays each of these distinct domains.

To help students develop the habit of using C.A.R.S when encountering new information online, educators  can present them with a series of fake and authentic resources to practice their evaluations. For fake websites consider www.thedogisland.com and https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/. Designed to help students develop better digital habits, these websites are intentionally crafted to appear authentic to make students evaluate them through the C.A.R.S process. For authentic websites students can evaluate www.loc.gov and www.pewresearch.org. Before students begin evaluating these websites, assign a point value to each question found within Figure 1. Have students find answers for these questions on each website. For each question they can answer, have them assign the website one point. If a website ends up with a higher score, there is a high probability that it is an authentic resource.  Websites that score low are more likely to contain misinformation and inaccuracies. 

Strategy 2: MEAL: Writing Well-Crafted Arguments

In response to the information environment Gen Z and Gen Alpha are up against, I have adapted the way I teach my social studies classes.  Unlike a traditional social studies class, I do not follow the trite pedagogy of “learn these facts and dates, take a quiz, and repeat”.  This pedagogical approach is moot in an era of instantaneous factual recall via Google or generative AI. Rather, the approach that I take to teaching my students is one predicated on the development of critical thinking through evidenced-based argumentation. This approach equips them with the necessary metacognitive skills to identify and critique the misinformation they encounter on digital platforms.

This approach can be implemented by having students complete frequent persuasive essays that leverage the MEAL (Main Idea, Evidence, Analysis, Link) method. The MEAL method challenges students to build the bulk of their thinking around evidence gathering and well-considered analysis. After repeated use of this method, students will develop a metacognitive process when considering the limits and strengths of their own thinking and writing. Furthermore, students can begin to use the MEAL method to critique the online information they consume.  They will develop the incipient habit of asking whether or not given consumable information is based on analysis which thoroughly demonstrates how the exposited evidence proves the point being considered.

A practical way to implement the MEAL method in the classroom is not only through writing, but through peer-editing strategies. Have students constructively evaluate each others’ argumentative essays. In doing so, each student should identify the lines of analysis and evidence in a peer’s essay. Consistent practice with identifying a peer’s evidence and analysis will help students develop confidence in their skills to spot these elements of writing. Moreover, students will become habituated to evaluating the strength of arguments that come from writers’ different points of view and nuanced methodologies for discerning what is concrete and provable in an era of  misinformation.

Strategy 3: Lateral Searching

Championed by educational theorist Sam Wineburg and his team at the Stanford History Education Group, lateral searching offers digital natives a novel approach to online information assessment. Lateral searching reinvigorates the generations-old practice of cross referencing. Prior to the internet, if you were conducting research in a library, you would have to physically stand in front of several bookshelves—lovingly called ‘the stacks’—containing volumes of information on a given topic. Therefore, if you came across a piece of information about which you were uncertain, you could immediately and easily identify another resource to cross reference said information. In bringing this method to the internet, lateral searching requires students to evaluate the authenticity of information that they come across on a given website by opening up a new browser tab to cross reference it with another digital resource. A virtual bookshelf of resource choices.

A practical way of implementing lateral searching in the online environment  is to teach students about the journalistic practice of triangulation. Triangulation requires consumers to vet a given fact by checking if it appears online in three different places with three different sources. If a fact appears in these places, it is most likely credible. This approach allows students to become their own rigorous fact-checkers. Triangulation is necessary for students to learn because the information spaces they are attempting to navigate are laden with ever-evolving misinformation that outpaces third-party authenticators (Valenza).

 For the generations that predate the internet, this method might seem obvious. These generations grew up in libraries that taught them how to cross reference for accuracy. However, none of them grew up in an age where behavioral science was being leveraged to foist the attention of young learners onto a device or app giving them informational tunnel vision. This is why the teaching of lateral searching must be intentional. If practiced correctly, lateral searching can break tunnel vision. According to the Wineburg team, students who use this method are more likely to spot and disrupt the spread of misinformation than students who do not (Breakstone et al.). 

Postmodernism and Information Literacy

Reeling from the devastation wrought by World War I, European intellectuals evinced the epistemology of postmodernism to deconstruct traditional Western power structures. Before long, this epistemology grew beyond the physical and intellectual ruins of Europe to establish spaces for historically-marginalized groups to speak truth to power³.  In these spaces, marginalized groups aimed to create a more just and equitable world by reconstructing social and political frameworks. While it can be argued that postmodernism has achieved much of this goal, it has also established an ever-growing and problematic gap between language and meaning.

While the examination of this gap was intended to reveal root causes of inequity, it has unintentionally left consumers without a set of agreed-upon ideas to evaluate the authenticity of digital information. Without common meaning and definitions, the individual consumer has become the sole purveyor and arbiter of fact and fiction in the digital world. Moreover, in the absence of common definitions, individuals have reverted to consuming information which only reinforces their cultural biases and react with hostility towards information that challenges these biases.

As an unparalleled vehicle for spreading misinformation, the internet further reveals postmodernism’s challenge to information literacy. The algorithms that feed content directly to consumers do so based on a particular individual’s preferences and biases. Consequently, this builds an echo chamber of confirmation around consumers, falsely leading them to believe that reality conforms to their worldview. By allowing and reinforcing these echo chambers, the internet establishes the ideal preconditions for misinformation to masquerade as nonfiction. Content creators can target consumers by leveraging these echo chambers to give them exactly what they want to read or view, regardless of its accuracy. Content creators get to drive up clicks and consumers become habituated to viewing their biases as truths. New epistemological approaches must help consumers avoid and identify these echo chambers. These new approaches must also value the cultural benefit that postmodernism has had for marginalized groups, while still anticipating and countering its shortcomings in the age of digital information consumption.

The Civic Dimension of Information Literacy

Misinformation and demagogues have always co-existed. The issue for 21st century learners is the alarming rate at which misinformation and demagoguery can be propagated and appear authentic. Whether it is the spreading of medical misinformation, inciting political violence, or impacting the mental health of an entire generation, the internet has exacted a high toll from young minds⁴. Information literacy notwithstanding, there is a crucial civic dimension to how young minds are having their information consumption habits influenced by social media and the internet. Plato reminds us that the information we consume and learn from shapes our habits. These habits then go on to form our worldview. We must consider what the worldview of younger generations will be if they are constantly fed a diet of vitriolic rhetoric and misinformation without the chance to consume the slightest form of civic nourishment.  Information literacy can be this nourishment.

Teaching information literacy goes beyond political partisanship or the latest trends in educational pedagogy. The ability to discern fact from fiction “is to civic health what clean water and proper sanitation are to public health” (Wineburg). In this vein, information literacy represents the most fundamental educational tenet, the pursuit of a discernible reality. This pursuit has been a historically-difficult path to guide students down. Since the dawn of human thought, pursuing ideas that can be concretely proven at the expense of commonly-held beliefs has not been comfortable, easy, or expedient. In most cases “…important truths [have been] unpopular when they [were] first articulated” (Hari 85).

Despite this discomfort, students must be given the chance to develop new epistemological approaches that will help them pursue and negotiate concrete ideas in an era of rampant misinformation. If students are not given this opportunity, they may end up as Humpty Dumpty did when he posited “[w]hen I use a word…it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less” (Carroll). Unfortunately for Humpty Dumpty, his claims about the world became his undoing as they were not rooted in a discernible reality. Let us not leave entire generations of young minds to a similar intellectual fate as they navigate an era of unprecedented information consumption.

Notes

1. I posit “as close to fact as possible” because nonfiction resources published by credentialed professionals are not inerrant nor beyond rhetorical reproach. Many, if not all, nonfiction resources contain bias and perspectives that can distort information. However, libraries contain multiple resources of countervailing bias on various subjects. This allows consumers to compare bias and avoid myopic viewpoints. Such opportunities are not found within algorithm-driven online resources that serve only to reinforce confirmation bias. Futhermore, the information presented as nonfiction within the World Books and libraries that I utilized furthered a bias of truth that would have appeared incorrect, false, or even alien to those living outside of the Western world.

2. This paper will focus on the generations currently within the K-12 system and the challenges that they face distinguishing fact from fiction in the age of the internet.  An analysis of how older generations navigate this challenge goes beyond the scope of this article.

3. For a detailed examination on the presence of postmodern Critical Theory within American and European intellectual circles, consider reading The Frankfurt School in Exile by Thomas Wheatland.

4. For information about how social media has affected youth mental health, consider reading Jean M. Twenge’s article in the September 2017 issue of the Atlantic entitled Have Smartphones Destroyed A Generation?  Also, consider reading the Surgeon General’s medical advisory entitled Social Media and Youth Mental Health.

Works Cited

Anderson, Ian, et al. “People share misinformation because of social media’s incentives — but those can be changed.” Nieman Lab, Harvard, 8 Aug. 2023, www.niemanlab.org/2023/08/people-share-misinformation-because-of-social-medias-incentives-but-those-can-be-changed/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2023.

Breakstone, Joel, et al. “Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate internet sources in an online course.” Misinformation Review, Harvard Kennedy School, 23 Feb. 2021, misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/lateral-reading-college-students-learn-to-critically-evaluate-internet-sources-in-an-online-course/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2023.

Carroll, Lewis. “The Project Gutenberg eBook of Through the Looking-Glass.” Project Gutenberg, 14 Apr. 2023, www.gutenberg.org/files/12/12-h/12-h.htm. Accessed 23 Aug. 2023.

Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again. New York City, Crown, 2022.

Kinney, Susan. C.A.R.S Checklist for Evaluating Internet Sources. Hollis, Hollis Brookline Middle School Media Center, 2016.

Piacquadio, Andrea. Woman Showing Her Cellphone to Her Grandmother. Pexels, 19 Feb. 2020, www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-showing-her-cellphone-to-her-grandmother-3768140/ Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

Silva, John. “Spotting social media ‘bad actors.'” News Literacy Project, 12 Feb. 2019, newslit.org/educators/civic-blog/spotting-social-media-bad-actors/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2023

“Social Media and Youth Mental Health.” Advisory. Department of Health and Human Services, www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf. Accessed 2023.

Twenge, Jean M. “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic, Sept. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2023.

Valenza, Joyce. “Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a ‘post-truth’ world.” School Library Journal, 26 Nov. 2016, blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/Truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2023.

Wheatland, Thomas. The Frankfurt School in Exile. University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

Wineburg, Sam. “What’s at Stake: Our Democracy Is at Risk.” Civic Online Reasoning, Stanford History Education Group, 2023, cor.stanford.edu/whats-at-stake/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2023.