Diets and media skills of Portuguese university students

Abstract

In the society of screens, networks and networking, a new communicational order - characterized by the ephemerality of narrative discourses, by the uninterrupted imagetic globalization, by the informational disorder that shapes a new media ecosystem, by the fragmentation of attention in multiple and constant stimuli - imposes to assume the current relevance of the concept of media literacy (media education, educommunication) and its relevance for a critical and rational reading of the World, towards global skills (OECD, 2018), democratic culture skills (COUNCIL OF EUROPE, 2016), towards a global citizenship (UNESCO, 2015). This research sought to understand how young Portuguese university students (n= 314) construct their media diets, particularly the informative ones, how they deconstruct and interpret them, and how they reflect on them. At a methodological level, we have opted for a triangulation based on a questionnaire survey (to assess media practices), a media literacy test (to assess literacy skills) and, finally, a focus group (to deepen the results obtained). The results revealed young people who were detached, not aware of their surroundings, uncritical and not engaged.