Exploring Media Literacy Formation at the Intersection of Family, School, and Peers

Nika Šušterič, Katja Koren Ošljak and Veronika Tašner
Additional contact information
Nika Šušterič: Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Katja Koren Ošljak: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Veronika Tašner: Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Media and Communication, 2025, vol. 13

Abstract: Today, media literacy and digital skills are essential for personal communication and social interaction. Children and adolescents need these skills to act autonomously in highly digitised social contexts. These skills are acquired in different social spaces, most frequently and primarily at home, followed by peer groups, school, and extracurricular activities. The present study aims to conceptually situate media literacy within a broader network of social power relations. It is therefore grounded in an academic theoretical framework that constructs media literacy as a form of digital cultural capital. As such, media literacy also contains the principles of media preferences and choices that condition the media choices of young people. This draws our attention to the social contexts in which media literacy and digital skills of children and teenagers are formed: within the family, school, and peers. With a selective thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 67 primary and secondary school students (12–19 years), the empirical research is focused on different contextual incentives and regulations related to the formation of students’ media literacy, primarily in relation to digital media. First, we examine parenting practices that frame home access to media and media practices within families. Then, we explore the characteristics of formal media education within schools, which seems limited to teaching with/through media. Finally, we identify peer networks as important promoters of both digital capital and elements of advanced media practices and skills, compared to the media literacy encouraged within families and schools.

Keywords: digital capital; media education; media literacy; media practices; primary school students; secondary school students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/9098 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v13:y:2025:a:9098

DOI: 10.17645/mac.9098

Access Statistics for this article

Media and Communication is currently edited by Raquel Silva

More articles in Media and Communication from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().