Give me a purpose for learning new media!

creative commons licensed
by godserv (Flickr)

Do you have a purpose for learning and using the new media?

Recently I asked a student in my Digital Culture class what she hoped to get out of it. Other students have said they hope to get more proficient at blogging or becoming more informed about digital issues. But she surprised me. In fact, she seemed to push back a bit. Why should I learn yet another thing to do online when I already waste enough time there?

Wow. That really made me think twice about asking my students to learn another social network, to blog, and to learn the other skills I've listed in my expectations regarding digital literacy. I don't want my students to waste time or overdo it with media and technology. I worry all the time about my own children becoming cyberkids. Just 10 minutes ago I made my 14 year-old son pause from playing his favorite online game ("Realm of the Mad God") to be sure he'd practiced his cello and read from the scriptures before getting caught up in something less important.

"I need a purpose," my student told me. She didn't want another tool necessarily; she wanted a good reason to be using these new media at all. This is a totally fair response, and a thoughtful one. And I've been thinking about it.

Here are some purposes for learning to use new media as I am requiring:

• Scholastic Success
  Students who know how to use the new media to enhance their abilities at doing research, collaborating with others, making presentations, documenting their learning, and sharing the fruits of their learning are going to succeed better with school than those who use the new media minimally.
• Employment
  Gaining digital literacy is bankable. Many of my prior students have gotten jobs and internships based on their blogging or other new media skills. Even if an employer doesn't seek out someone with those skills, a working knowledge of the new media ends up adding value to any enterprise and sets apart those who have digital literacy as being especially valuable. 
• Citizenship
  Being a functional and involved citizen in our communities, nation, and world may not directly require digital skills, but you'd better believe that those who will have the most effect among these communities will be those armed with digital literacy.
• Lifetime Learning
  Long after one's formal schooling is complete, the need for constant learning will be there. Digital literacy will increasingly be the most efficient way to sustain lifelong learning -- whether that's taking an online course, doing independent research, mastering a new language, or solving life's many problems.
• Family
  Every child born today will be more native to computers and media than any prior generation. We need to stay current so that this is a blessing and not a curse for our families. Plus, these media make it possible to stay connected to extended family, to learn of and know our ancestors, and to document and strengthen our family life.
• Finances
  Banking, shopping, buying and selling, making payments -- it's either all online or predominantly so. If someone knows how to find prices or product reviews they will be a more thrifty shopper. And the person who gets a text message alert that his or her bank balance is low will save both money and embarrassment. You can do your finances without digital literacy--just not as well.
• Creative communitiesThe web and social media make it possible to find and be part of communities who share common talents or passions. We need to know how to find and interact with such groups.
• Event planningWhether for work, church, or family, we are likely to be involved with planning parties, weddings, conferences, travel, service, or political or community events. Those with digital literacy and an understanding of new media will be more successful with planning and carrying off such events.
• Support
  Everyone at some point needs help. Support networks exist offline, but today are greatly enhanced by the new media. We can ask for or extend help to others through these media, from casual things ("Can anyone help me find a ghost costume for my son?") to emergencies, to addiction recovery programs where people use social media to check in or ask for intervention.
• Change
  Ours is a world of constant change; digital literacy provides tools not only for coping with that change, but for bringing about changes that we feel are needed -- whether that's a new rule for the local PTA or a new form of national government. 

And the list goes on. There aren't many important activities today that do not have some kind of tech, media, or online component to them. We can complain about that, or we can take stock and take charge of our new environment. We can let media master us or we can become the media and set its parameters within terms we choose. 

So, when my students complain about being forced to do things with tech and media that they are not comfortable with or that could seem a waste of time, my answer is for them to find a reason -- their reason among so many -- for learning these concepts and skills. I know this is not an easy journey. I know we make mistakes. But find your purpose, and then let's press forward together into these brave new worlds.