The widespread use of social media is unavoidable in today’s digital era. The young generation are the ones who will determine the future of Indonesia’s media literacy. Based on a survey conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2019, Indonesia ranked 62nd out of 70 countries, or the bottom 10 countries with low literacy levels.
Although the literacy rate in Indonesia is still relatively low, Indonesians actively use the internet, especially in terms of online shopping and social media usage. Data shows that everyone has at least one mobile device with a fairly high percentage of social media users, which is 60% of the total population.
Due to this particular issue, the Communication Science student groups of Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik (FISIP) of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) held socializations at SMK Perguruan Nasional Brigjend Katamso 1 and SMAS Prayatna Medan that involved a total of 81 students. These activities were held on May 15 and 22, 2024 with two themes: “Recognizing ‘Infinite Scroll’ Addiction in Teenagers” and “How Ads and Clicks Shape the Internet and Deconstruction Media Message”.
The purpose of these socializations are to raise students’ awareness about the importance of literacy in the digital era, provide knowledge about the dangers of excessive use of smartphones and social media, and teach them how to limit and moderate their time on social media.
In addition, these socialization s also aim to provide a basic understanding of how to be wise in media literacy, identify good and bad advertisements and clicks, to understand the deconstruction of digital media in the digital era.
In this socialization, the college students educated the students in each school about life in a digital world filled with information and communication technology that continues to grow, facilitating human work, especially with the existence of smartphones that are being used every day and had become an inseparable aspect in our lives.
However, on a smartphone, there are many dangers that might go unnoticed. One of them is the bad habit of surfing in social media until you lose track of time. One can feel too comfortable on social media because of infinite scrolling, a feature where the social media continues to display content without limit or end. This leads to the “inability to stop scrolling on social media” as the algorithm displays content that matches the user’s interests.
Through this socialization, the college students hope that the students that they taught can apply the fundamental aspects of media literacy, such as how to moderate the use of smartphones, be aware of why we can’t stop scrolling, be aware of the harmful effects that are caused by social media, be able to differentiate good and bad clicks, understand the deconstruction of media messages, act wisely and critically in the use of digital media, and help educate family, friends, and the surrounding environment who have not been exposed to this knowledge.