Through the Life Skills EHS course, I have learned a wide variety of skills and knowledge that are necessary to manage life and be prepared for any eventuality effectively. The variety of topics explored may be shocking at first glance, with modules ranging from emergency care and oral hygiene to job skills, career achievement, and personal well-being issues (LMS, n.d.). However, the course is structured in such a way that each module is developed gradually, so the knowledge is not jumbled together in mind but logically and systematically creates an overall view of effective living. Overall, this course is one that I advise every person to take, as it provides fundamental knowledge that is important for routine and situational tasks. On the other hand, given the variety and diversity of life scenarios, this course could be expanded. This essay critically discusses a topic that could be implemented in Life Skills EHS to make the course more holistic and fulfilling.
As life becomes digitized, technology, the Internet, and social media are becoming increasingly important. With the almost virtual life of an individual, it is social media that becomes the main source of information, news, and interpersonal communication (Teoh, 2019). Without assessing the advantages and disadvantages of this phenomenon, it is only important to point out that digital skills in social media are becoming vital to the modern user. There is no single definition of what digital literacy is and how it should be described. However, for the purposes of this essay, digital literacy refers to the broad competencies required to use the Internet safely and effectively. Today’s Internet represents a large amount of information, and according to Duarte (2023), approximately 329 million terabytes of new data is produced every day. It seems obvious that a daily user does not encounter such a huge amount, but the total information flow still needs to be manageable. While some media do not carry serious meaning and fulfill more of a recreational purpose, others are news sources. It is news sources that have increased informational power, as they form the user’s sense of what is happening in the world.
Thus, the modern user must have the skill to evaluate incoming information critically and realize which digital sources can be trusted and which are questionable. It should be remembered that modern news sources can be systematically used as propaganda and crowd management tools (Hristakieva et al., 2022). Any information appearing there can be aimed at forming the public opinion desired by the authorities and thus deliberately misleading users. The power of such propaganda is great, and, for example, the history of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict illustratively describes it (Pierri et al., 2023). Propaganda exists at different levels and in different qualities, but unhealthy and malicious use of it is not morally right.
For this reason, digital literacy skill is just as vital as knowing how to file a resume or pay taxes. Moreover, it is for this reason that digital literacy as a skill could be integrated into this course to expand the range of useful life skills taught. A module on digital literacy could include many useful competencies that a modern user should possess. Examples of such topics could be the skill of creating strong passwords and saving data, word processing skills, business correspondence skills, the skill of checking any information, and the skill of using social networks. In practice, there are many more examples of such topics, and any knowledge would be useful as it would create a more efficient and secure environment for the user.
References
Duarte, F. (2023). Amount of data created daily (2023). Exploding Topics. Web.
Hristakieva, K., Cresci, S., Da San Martino, G., Conti, M., & Nakov, P. (2022). The spread of propaganda by coordinated communities on social media [PDF document]. Web.
LMS. (n.d.). 22/23 life skills EHS: Modules. LMS Learn Stage. Web.
Pierri, F., Luceri, L., Jindal, N., & Ferrara, E. (2023). Propaganda and misinformation on Facebook and Twitter during the Russian invasion of Ukraine [PDF document]. Web.
Teoh, D. (2019). The power of social media for HPV vaccination – not fake news! American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book, 39, 75-78. Web.