Recently, the "New Era Digital Youth Internet Literacy Survey Report (2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by Beijing Normal University has attracted a lot of attention, the "Report" pointed out that the overall average score of college students' Internet literacy is 3.67 points (out of 5 points), and the score of adolescents and junior high school students is 3.56, both slightly higher than the passing line and need to be further improved.
It is understood that based on cognitive behavior theory and past research and research, the report divides adolescents' network literacy into six dimensions: online attention management ability, network information search and utilization ability, network information analysis and evaluation ability, network impression management ability, network security and privacy protection ability, network value cognition and moral literacy.
"Slightly above the passing line", such a result makes many parents feel unsatisfactory. In the era of information explosion and rapid iteration of intelligent technology, how to let teenagers' network literacy keep up with the pace of the development of artificial intelligence technology, learn to protect themselves, identify information, and grow up healthily in a virtual environment is not only a problem related to the growth of every student, but also a problem that many experts in the education field call for social concern.
What different impact may different life backgrounds have on adolescents' online literacy levels? Taking college students as an example, according to the Report, among personal factors, college students' gender, region of origin, major, grade, household registration, proficiency in Internet use, and average daily Internet access will significantly affect the Internet literacy level of college students. For example, there are significant differences in the Internet literacy of boys and girls, and the Internet literacy of girls is relatively better; The network literacy of college students in urban areas was significantly higher than that of college students in rural areas. From the perspective of the eastern, central and western regions, the eastern region has the highest network literacy; College students with an average daily Internet time of less than 1 hour have the lowest Internet literacy, and college students with 5-8 hours of Internet access have the highest Internet literacy.
"The innovation of artificial intelligence education and the improvement of youth literacy is a serious and urgent major issue." At the second Youth Internet Conference, Fang Zengquan, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Journalism and Communication of Beijing Normal University, said that generative artificial intelligence has reshaped the production system, talent training system, business model, and social division of labor system of social knowledge, bringing huge development opportunities to all fields of society, but also facing severe risk problems.
While children have learned how to use ChatGPT to complete school assignments, in the era of artificial intelligence, youth internet literacy needs to be given a new meaning.
Guo Yuanyuan, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business, has been doing research on the media literacy ability of adolescents in the era of human-computer collaboration in recent years, and in her opinion, artificial intelligence can already build a new development direction based on the knowledge system previously developed by human beings, which will bring new challenges to human development.
"In the era of artificial intelligence, we must pay attention to cultivating the systematic thinking of young people." Guo Yuanyuan said that this includes cultivating the ability to capture, select, integrate and make decisions in the "everything is media"; The ability to construct applications and coexistence in human-machine collaboration; Strengthen humanistic and humanistic awareness and stance in human-machine collaborative communication.
According to Jiang Yanfu, principal of Beijing No. 12 Middle School, the scientific and technological revolution with cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, mobile Internet, artificial intelligence, and blockchain as the core elements has introduced people into a new digital ecology. "The main impact it brings can be presented in the fonts 'one, two, three, four', that is, an era, a binary scene, the influence of the three views of truth, goodness and beauty, and the four changes of 'length, breadth, speed, and depth'."
In the face of such challenges, what kind of state should young people have to cope with the challenges and lead the future? Jiang Yanfu believes that in order to crack the impact of the digital ecology, it is necessary to comprehensively improve the literacy of young people, form the ability to persist and invest, the social ability of tolerance and respect, the prudent independence of honesty and integrity, the life force of moderation and self-discipline, the pioneering power of insurance and innovation, and the five major abilities of practical innovation, collaborative negotiation, information processing, cross-interpersonal communication, and reading and expression.
However, in the face of changes in the online environment, it is not only teenagers who are taking on the challenge.
"Because minors have not yet reached a mature stage in mental development and cognitive ability, they are extremely vulnerable to the influence of the mobile Internet and intelligent environment. Comprehensively and objectively analyzing the unprecedented development opportunities and risk challenges of generative artificial intelligence is an urgent proposition of the times to ensure the healthy growth of minors. Fang Zengquan hopes to build an AI cultivation ecosystem and take advantage of the development opportunities brought by generative artificial intelligence by implementing technical standards, clarifying assessment obligations, paying attention to risk content, building an AI education and training ecosystem, and working together with various departments.
"Since the challenges and new changes brought by artificial intelligence are all-round, the improvement of youth Internet literacy should also be a process of collaborative cultivation and common development." Jiang Qiaolei, associate professor at Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication, said that this requires the concerted efforts of multiple social subjects.
Jiang Qiaolei believes that the family is the core growth environment for teenagers, and parents' network literacy should also be improved, so that they can grow up with their children and make some of the most fundamental judgments on privacy and security, values and other aspects for teenagers. School education should also provide courses in ethics and value judgment, so that young people can grow up with artificial intelligence. At the same time, it also needs an external policy environment and social environmental protection for the healthy growth of young people in the online environment.
China Youth Daily / China Youth Net reporter Ye Yuting Source: China Youth Daily