The Place of Ageing in Digital Literacy Research: A Comparative Review of Turkish and Foreign Literature
Digital mediated platforms that encompass every aspect of social life have become an indispensable part of everyday life, especially after the COVID419 pandemic. The speed of this transformation has also revealed the need to understand many social problems. The integration of life in areas such as nutrition, health and finance, which concern all demographic groups of the society, into digital platforms has inevitably led to the necessity for individuals to be present in these channels. Digital literacy, provides solutions to take part in these environments with awareness as an individual. With regard to digital literacy, children and young people have been prioritised in various fields from public policies to academic environments, while older individuals have remained in the secondary plan. However, digital environments are at least as important for older individuals as for children and young people. In this context, in our study, Turkish and foreign academic studies on digital literacy between 2019 and 2024 were analysed using the “systematic literature review” method. The study revealed that in both Turkish and foreign literature in the field of digital literacy, research on students and teachers is predominant, while Turkish literature lags behind foreign literature regarding ageing. In this context, it was found that more research should be conducted to reveal the relationship between digital literacy and ageing, and that the researches to be conducted especially in the turkish literature should be aimed at increasing the digital literacy levels of elderly individuals.
Dijital Okuryazarlık Araştırmalarında Yaşlılığın Yeri: Türkçe ve Yabancı Alanyazın Üzerine Karşılaştırmalı Bir İnceleme
Toplumsal yaşamın her alanını kuşatan dijital platformlar, özellikle küresel dünyanın karşılaştığı en büyük sorun4 lardan biri olan COVID419 pandemisinin ardından, gündelik yaşamın vazgeçilmez bir parçası haline gelmiştir. Bu dönüşümün hızı, pek çok toplumsal sorunsalı da anlama gerekliliğini ortaya çıkarmıştır. Toplumun bütün demografik gruplarını ilgilendiren beslenme, sağlık, finans gibi alanlardaki deneyimlerin de dijital platformlarla bütünleşmesi bireylerin kaçınılmaz olarak söz konusu platformlarda varlık göstermesini gerekli kılmıştır. Bu bağlamda, dijital okuryazarlık, birey olarak bu ortamlarda farkındalık içerisinde yer almanın tek çözümü olarak görünmektedir. Dijital okuryazarlık söz konusu olduğunda kamu siyasalarından, akademik ortamlara dek geniş bir alanda, çocuk ve gençler öncelik haline gelmiş; yaşlı bireyler ise ikincil planda kalmıştır. Oysaki yaşlılık dönemindeki bireyler açısından dijital ortamlar en az çocuk ve gençler kadar önem arz etmektedir. Dahası dijital okuryazar olmak günümüzde temel insan haklarından biri haline gelmiş durumdadır. Bu çerçevede, çalışmamızda 201942024 yılları arasında dijital okuryazarlık hakkında yapılan türkçe ve yabancı akademik çalışmalar “sistematik alanyazın taraması” yöntemiyle çözümlenmiştir. Çalışma ile dijital okuryazarlık alanında gerek türkçe gerekse de yabancı alanyazınında öğrenci ve öğretmenlere yönelik araştırmaların ağırlıklı olduğu, yaşlılık söz konusu olduğunda ise türkçe alanyazının yabancı alanyazınının gerisinde kaldığı görülmüştür. Dolayısıyla, dijital okuryazarlık ve yaşlılık ilişkisini ortaya koyacak çok daha fazla sayıda araştırma yapılması gerektiği, özellikle türkçe alanyazınında yapılacak olan araştırmaların, yaşlı bireylerin dijital okuryazarlık düzeylerini yükseltmeye yönelik olması gerektiğine yönelik dikkat çeken bulgular ortaya konmuştur.
One of the most important turning points in human history is undoubtedly the invention of the Internet. Because of its widespread use globally, especially since the 1990s, it has completely transformed the society we live in today. As a matter of fact, it is possible to see this situation from the data. According to Statista (2024), as of October 2024, there are 5.52 billion internet users worldwide, which corresponds to 67.5% of the global population. Of this total, 5.22 billion or 63.8% of the world population are social media users. According to daterareportal (2024), internet users spend an average of 6 hours and 36 minutes worldwide. All this is also reflected in the economy, and as of 2024, the total amount spent on digital transformation has reached 2.5 trillion dollars (Statista, 2024). All these data and our daily life experiences show that internet4mediated digital platforms have inevitably gained a place in the lives of each of us.
In this context, being a conscious user in environments that contain various opportunities and threats is directly related to digital literacy. In this new ecosystem shaped by the digital age, individuals should be aware of their fundamental rights and freedoms, use the new digital world and the platforms that have emerged with this world effectively in order to protect and use them, be aware of the opportunities and risks here, exhibit ethical behaviour, and have the skills to ensure that they exist in these environments not only as consumers but also as producers. All these requirements are related to the concept of digital literacy (Sağıroğlu et al., 2020). Digital literacy requires knowing when and how to use digital tools. Having the knowledge of using tools that can produce content in areas such as social media networks, blogs, etc, which entered our lives with Web 2.0, is also included in digital literacy (Hague & Payton, 2010). As a matter of fact, many countries are aware of the importance of digital literacy and have developed curricula that aim to create a certain awareness from an early age through education. In our country, in 2006, the Primary Education Elective Media Literacy Course Curriculum for digital literacy, which requires a combination of many different skill sets, was approved by the Board of Education and entered the curriculum of the Ministry of National Education. Since the 200742008 academic year, it has been taught as an elective course in grades 6, 7, and 8 of primary education. In addition, RTÜK has prepared various handbooks to raise the awareness of adults and children about the media (Koçak, 2019).
With the media literacy course, children are basically introduced to media tools, learn how to distinguish between the real and the unreal, and gain knowledge about the accuracy of the messages conveyed by these tools (Tanrıkulu, 2019). The course also teaches students how to use all media tools correctly. Similar programs are seen in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. The ageing process, which includes extremely different components and should be examined from a multidisciplinary perspective, refers to a period of inevitable transformations in all areas of individuals’ biological, social, economic, etc. lives. Undoubtedly, considering the possibilities it has, digital environments contain many opportunities for elderly individuals to spend their ageing processes in a better way. However, as mentioned above, digital literacy training is generally provided for children and young people. There are also various stereotypes about older people in the global age.
A systematic literature review method was used in our research. Given the current expansion in the quantity and content of academic studies, a comprehensive review of the literature is necessary. It is well known that a systematic literature review is an effective research technique to examine previous studies and summarise findings in a methodical, transparent and reproducible way (Yıldız, 2022). In this context, Turkish and foreign academic studies conducted between 2019 and 2024 were analysed. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that both turkish and foreign literature in the field of digital literacy is dominated by research on students and teachers, and when it comes to old age, turkish literature lags behind foreign literature. In this context, it was also revealed that much more research should be conducted to reveal the relationship between digital literacy and ageing, and especially the research to be conducted in the turkish literature should be aimed at increasing the digital literacy levels of elderly individuals.
