GEN Z & MEDIA LITERACY

 Kihana Wilson- 2020

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In a time of rampant political theater, social unrest and widespread polarization, it is becoming more evident just how necessary media literacy is for navigating our society. The open-access nature of information on digital and online platforms has made misinformation far more widespread than ever before. For the next generation of voting adults (Generation Z), who have grown up in the digital age, this point is particularly poignant. Media and civic literacy are one of the most crucial aspects of our education and development, and being constantly bombarded with information, we are especially vulnerable to the falsehoods, disinformation, propaganda, and “fake news” with which we come into contact, especially from mainstream news media, entertainment media, and social media. Misinformation and fake news arguably pose the greatest threat to our democracy in the contemporary United States. Misinformation influences voting behavior and political beliefs, which in turn affect how issues ranging from Climate Change to immigration and prison reform to gun control are addressed by our representatives. Manipulative propaganda techniques have burrowed their way into our journalism and disinformation plagues the mainstream news media cycle. In this critical point in the United States, the future of our society and democracy hinges upon the political knowledgeableness and civic responsibility of the generation who will lead it next: Us.

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In a 1789 letter to Richard Price, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “...wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied upon to set them to rights.” My first discovery upon this statement struck a powerful cord within me, and I’ve never forgotten it since. I have always been a naturally inquisitive person concerning the issues occurring in my community, in our society, and in the world at large. I’ve realized that the zeal I have for understanding current events and the political issues that define contemporary social, economic, environmental, and global issues wasn’t shared by my peers. I set out to discover the reason behind this apathy for civic engagement, and to potentially find a way to engage my peers in a meaningful way and give them a platform to voice their values and beliefs. After all, my generation will be next the leaders of the world, and boy have we been dealt a challenging hand.

 

For the first semester of my senior year, I focused on organizing various events on campus, increasing my own civic engagement, and understanding the extent of my own competence in media literacy. I held a viewing party for the third round of Democratic debates, during which I facilitated discussions among high school students about their reactions and opinions. I have acted as a school liaison for the Sunrise Movement of Houston to spread awareness about the sociopolitical movements occurring in our hometown and encourage direct involvement through protesting. I led a classroom discussion with my classmates about what it means to be politically knowledgeable and civically engaged and our role in the national dialogue regarding the issues we care about. For the second semester, I began to focus on developing my short, exploratory documentary featuring interviews of individuals of various ages and backgrounds with a variety of perspectives on political knowledgeableness and civic engagement. I have interviewed a professor of journalism at Texas Southern University and one of his students, as well as founder of the Media Education Lab, Renee Hobbs. I have interviewed former and current teachers, millennials, and Generation Z youth. The documentary will follow me on my journey to discover the sentiments toward civic engagement of the next generation of voting adults from themselves. I seek to understand how my generation feels, how much they think their voice and impact has in their society, and possibly to discover a way to encourage and engage them. For my lasting legacy at Chinquapin, I hope to work with the Development Department in creating a webpage on our school’s website which will serve as a forum for the Chinquapin community, particularly the students, to discuss their values and the issues they care about in an open, honest, and healthy online environment. I will call it the "Young Voices Matter" page. It will serve as an organizational space for any protests or strikes that students would like to attend in the Greater Houston area in partnership with the Sunrise Movement of Houston. It will also contain information about local, state, and national representatives whose campaigns match the issues students indicate concern for, providing them with external sources to do research on their own. There will also be step-by-step guidelines for how older students can register to vote and the process through which they must go to successfully turn in their ballot. All of this I hope to be composited in a straightforward, user-friendly way accessible on the “Students” tab of the Chinquapin website. I will establish the initial information on the site, and elect a small cohort of underclassmen to take on the responsibility after I graduate so that the information remains up to date and relevant. Ultimately, I hope to spearhead a movement in sustaining a community of engaged and civically literate Chinquapin students. In the future, I will take this passion of mine to college and transform this vision into a larger cause.