From a recent survey on media usage among 12-13 year olds in Ireland, it came as no surprise to learn that the most common reason cited for going online was fun.
However, findings also revealed that school work scored just as highly, as did social networking. Not discounting social desirability implications of the ‘school work’ response, our findings confirmed what anecdotally we already knew – that this particular age group, officially too young for Facebook, is active on social networks and the internet and for a variety of reasons.
The 12-13 Project carried out by the Irish Film Institute (IFI) between October 2012 and May 2013 aimed to map the media usage of this age group in Ireland through an online log to be completed over a finite number of days. The findings would then inform several media literacy interventions which would be delivered at a variety of locations around the country and draw on the expertise of local media providers and professionals. While the primary activity of IFI is cinema exhibition, at the same time we are conscious of the multi-platform ways in which young people today access film. The EU Kids Online Survey has provided invaluable information on young peoples’ online habits across Europe. We were hoping that our small project would tell us a little more about their use of other media such as film, TV and radio – and whethermedia literacy interventions would affect any behavioural or attitudinal change.
Initially setting out to connect with out-of-school media experiences, including film watching, we wanted to find out the nature and duration of media-based activities, the skills and competencies, and the awareness and understanding of internet safety, amongst our target group. The age range was very particular, falling as it does in Ireland between primary and secondary school, when moving up involves a transition to a very different learning environment. Just as media literacy could provide a transactional learning space between in and out of school, perhaps it could ease transition to more demanding curricula or confidence-building in the challenging teen years. Equally we wanted to facilitate a positive engagement with media, when so much that is published about young people and media inclines towards the negative. This is not to underestimate the role that social networking may have played in serious or tragic occurrences, but rather to acknowledge its place in teen communications and to encourage discussion around issues of safety, with a view to promoting more discerning use.
From the findings of our online survey, we could surmise that the average 12-13 year old in Ireland used a mobile phone mostly to send texts, would go online each day and they would watch TV. Over half could adjust privacy settings, half would play games. In other words, the young people who took part in our research were to varying degrees media-savvy. Our follow-up media interventions in radio, web design, TV and filmmaking, which also included input and discussion on online safety, offered further confirmation of the participants’ media skills but most significantly, their interest in furthering them. As with our previous research project, Film Focus, and the numerous other research projects that are being carried out by other bodies in this highly pertinent field, we get repeated confirmation that active media engagements excite and motivate young people and they want to learn more. Curriculum developers, youth work and education funders, please take note.
