Media literacy is finally getting some long-overdue attention. Whether it’s the rising awareness of political disinformation, the threat of AI, Russian hackers, or cellphones in the classroom, discussions about media literacy are on the uptick. In September, the APA Monitor joined the fray arguing for equipping K-12 students to identify misinformation and manipulative content. Evidence shows that children are confident in their ability to identify false news but are ill-equipped to evaluate source validity (Zozaya-Durazo et al., 2024). Across the U.S., media literacy is slowly working its way onto the agendas of elected officials. The adoption and implementation in the classroom, however, lags far behind.

It may surprise you to know that the definition of media literacy predates the 1993 arrival of the internet. It came from a 1992 National Association for Media Literacy (NAMLE) meeting, where it was defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication. Little did they know how extensive that would become.

Social media platforms emerged a few years later, starting with Six Degrees in 1996, MySpace in 2003, and Facebook in 2004, completely disrupting communications and the world as we knew it. The digital world transformed consumers into media creators and distributors with no barrier to entry, and society was largely unprepared for the implications—both good and bad. Media literacy today still suffers from definitional indigestion, struggling to keep up with the range of applications, but at its most inclusive, it includes media and social media literacy, digital literacy, information and news literacy, digital citizenship, and digital wellness.

The impetus for providing kids with media literacy skills often gets lost in the moral panic over technology and kids. Fear has overrun reason, and people can’t decide whether to blame social media, mobile devices, tech companies, or the internet. They are preoccupied with claims that technology and social media are the causes of adolescent mental health issues despite the weak associations, lack of consistent definitions, and........

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