The recent riots in England inevitably lead to plenty of comment on the ‘role’ of digital media. In fact every key news story of the year has been dominated by the pros and cons of modern communications technology – from mobile phone hacking and celeb super-injunctions to the Arab Spring.

But all the outrage and waffle only highlights that our society is still really not very good at understanding the tools we now have at our disposal.

Ignorance is Criminal

The news that 2 young men received 4-year prison sentences for a few moments of Facebook madness (unsuccessfully attempting to start local riots) generated plenty of such opinion.

Yet there wasn’t enough talk of Media Literacy in the debate for my liking, despite the boys’ ignorance being central to their crime. As we’ve said before, now EVERYONE is a publisher with a global platform at their disposal, an advanced set of media skills need to be learned.

The subject should be taught in schools. There is a misguided idea that kids are somehow media savvy because they are all ‘glued to their smartphones’. In fact the opposite is usually true. If some of the tabloid outrage at Facebook over the latest privacy settings, sexting drama or cyber bullying case was instead channelled into a call for media education then kids and their parents would all be better equipped to deal with these issues.

We Need Perspective

In an advertising/marketing/political agenda saturated world, we all desperately need to be able reflect on the information we receive and put it into correct perspective. This skill should be up there with knowing how to cook or learning to add up.

Tellingly, lack of Media Literacy is not confined to under-educated kids. The fact that David Cameron can even suggest an Iranian-style communications blackout as a solution to the role of social networks in the riots shows we have a very long way to go on this topic at even the highest level.

In fact, if the police we’re fully Media Literate they’d surely be the ones leading the cries for social media platforms to remain open as a vital source of realtime information (and therefore leads) on any public order situation.

Don’t Fear It, Teach It

These tools will seem a lot less frightening when we are all better at understanding them. Their power for good and bad is dominating our cultural agenda – so why are there not more cries for Media Literacy education?

New media is hardly new anymore. It may continue to develop rapidly, and human instinct resiliently fears the new (there are still plenty of stories about the evils of watching TV) but –even in Iran, Mr Cameron – it’s proved an unstoppable social force. We need to create a model to teach our children/parents/governments/police how to use it.

Related #MediaLiteracy & Links

• Sheffield Mind Labs Podcast on the importance of Media Literacy (We have them to thank for the image too.)
• London Riots and the Future of Social Media: Harvard Business Review Blog
• Medialiteracy.com
• The #MediaLiteracy Daily: Paper.Li