Adolescents grow up in an environment equipped with a wide range of media devices. Nowadays, practically all families have access to smartphones, computers or laptops and Internet access. Technological trends have become an inseparable part of our lives and following these trends is inevitable, especially for young people. Our lives are increasingly dominated by new apps, latest trends in technology and advanced technological devices. Studies like the JIM studies in Germany show that the young generation spends more and more time online using social networks as well as digital media in general. The German 2018 KIM study (https://www.mpfs.de/fileadmin/files/Studien/KIM/2018/KIM-Studie_2018_web.pdf) shows that “starting at around age ten in particular, there is a significant increase in the use of streaming services, and the same goes for the relevance of communication via social media as a regular part of children’s lives. The latter is mostly used to communicate with friends, classmates, and also amongst family members. It also follows that the media consumption habits of parents and the media options available to children at home play an important role when considering the media usage of children. The permanent availability of such a wide variety of options for using video, games, and photos and for communication and interaction thus represents a major challenge for children and for their parents.” According to the German 2018 JIM study (https://www.mpfs.de/studien/jim-studie/2018/) the Internet – regardless of the distribution channel – is accessed by 91% of 12- to 19-year-olds on a daily basis. As far as device ownership for adolescents is concerned, the smartphone dominates at 97%. However, self-assessment of the duration of Internet usage has declined although teenagers spend 214 minutes online on an average weekday. In our last Erasmus+ project we found out that participating students had an average screen time of 240 minutes every day. Students often reacted surprised and sometimes shocked that they spend so much time on smartphones. We have found out that in our international and globalized world we all face the same challenges related to a life which is increasingly dominated by (digital) media. It is a fact that the digital world brings both threats and benefits, however some of us – adolescents and adults - become more dragged into the addiction. The conclusion of the 2018 JIM study is that the “foundation of media-educational action is to develop one‘s own stance towards the topic of media, to exemplify values and to impart basic skills for the digital world. These basic skills should enable young people to evaluate and reflect on their actions, to understand the mechanisms of the media system and, in the best case, to take advantage of the diverse media possibilities and to see media as a tool to express themselves and to handle it confidently.” During the course of this project about 600 German and Polish students aged 10-16 will reflect different aspects arising from leading a "digital life" in order to gain more competences and independence/autonomy. In a fast moving and changing time we have decided that – in addition to ITC classes - the Arts can be an ideal subject to reflect digital life in all age groups at our schools. We will create a common online exhibition on e-twinning and have exhibitions, award ceremonies as well as a performance of a song concerning "Digital Life in Europe" at our schools. By the means of exhibitions in our school buildings, the common leitmotif at our schools "Digital Life" will always be present and will inspire the students to reflect their use of digital media on an everyday basis. This way the intended effect of the project is maximized. Contacts with the older generation during family workshops which the students will offer at school will potentially make students reflect their free time habits by comparing with adolescent life in the past with their present life. However, the older generation will also benefit from the project as our students will offer workshops on the use of smartphones, smartphone apps and create a digital photo album. In the course of the workshops older people will be enabled to use apps like e.g. skype or facetime in order to have visual contact with their relatives. This will potentially raise their quality of life. They will also be offered help in using smartphones / smart devices. It is important to point out that we do not want to turn back time and exclusively focus on the dangers of digital media on our lives. We want to highlight the benefits as well as the potential negative effects of a modern life that is increasingly influenced by digital media. Ideally the project will trigger a lifelong learning process of emancipation which will lead to a self-aware, reflected and more competent use of digital media.
Adolescents grow up in an environment equipped with a wide range of media devices. Nowadays, practically all families have access to smartphones, computers or laptops and Internet access. Technological trends have become an inseparable part of our lives and following these trends is inevitable, especially for young people. Our lives are increasingly dominated by new apps, latest trends in technology and advanced technological devices. Studies like the JIM studies in Germany show that the young generation spends more and more time online using social networks as well as digital media in general. The German 2018 KIM study (https://www.mpfs.de/fileadmin/files/Studien/KIM/2018/KIM-Studie_2018_web.pdf) showed that "starting at around age ten in particular, there is a significant increase in the use of streaming services, and the same goes for the relevance of communication via social media as a regular part of children’s lives. (...)The media consumption habits of parents and the media options available to children at home play an important role when considering the media usage of children. The permanent availability of such a wide variety of options for using video platforms, games, and photos and mobile devices for communication and interaction thus represents a major challenge for children and for their parents." According to the German 2018 JIM study (https://www.mpfs.de/studien/jim-studie/2018/) the Internet – regardless of the distribution channel – was accessed by 91% of 12- to 19-year-olds on a daily basis. As far as device ownership for adolescents is concerned, the smartphone dominated at 97%. However, self-assessment of the duration of Internet usage has declined although teenagers spend 214 minutes online on an average weekday. What are the consequences of these facts? In our last Erasmus+ project we found out that participating students had an average screen time of 240 minutes every day. Students often reacted surprised and sometimes shocked that they spend so much time on smartphones. We have found out that in our international and globalized world we all face the same challenges related to a life which is increasingly dominated by (digital) media. It is a fact that the digital world brings both threats and benefits, however some of us – adolescents and adults - become more dragged into the addiction. The conclusion of the 2018 JIM study is that the “foundation of media-educational action is to develop one‘s own stance towards the topic of media, to exemplify values and to impart basic skills for the digital world. These basic skills should enable young people to evaluate and reflect on their actions, to understand the mechanisms of the media system and, in the best case, to take advantage of the diverse media possibilities and to see media as a tool to express themselves and to handle it confidently.” During the course of our project about 600 German and Polish students aged 10-16 reflected different aspects arising from leading a "digital life" in order to gain more competences and autonomy. In a time influenced by fake news, hate speech and more digital insecurity than there used to be we decided that – in addition to ITC classes - the Arts can be an ideal subject to reflect digital life in all age groups at our schools. We created a common online exhibition on e-twinning during the time of school closures due to the covid 19 pandemic and had exhibitions as well as erasmus days at our schools, award ceremonies and a theatre play concerning "Digital Life". Students visited exhibitions related to an increasingly digitalized life (e.g. in Warsaw: The Future is Today). By the means of exhibitions in our school buildings, the common leitmotif at our schools "Digital Life" was always present and inspired the students to reflect their use of digital media on an everyday basis. There now is a permanent exhibition at our schools that will make our students reflect their digital lives in the long term. We also trained "Student Media Coaches" on topics like "Hate Speech" or "Fake News" as well as cyberbullying and the role of social networks. In Germany this workshop was conducted online by the Landesmedienzentrum (LMZ) of Baden-Württemberg, in Poland by qualified teachers of our last Erasmus+ project "European Media Coaches in Action". The trained media coaches cacted as teachers and conducted different workshops for younger students in which they worked on topics like social media apps, fakenews, artificial inelligence, cyberbullying and our digital future. It was important to us to point out that we do not want to turn back time and exclusively focus on the dangers of digital media on our lives. We aimed at highlighting the benefits as well as the potential negative effects of a modern life that is increasingly influenced by digital media. Ideally the project will trigger a lifelong learning process of emancipation which will lead to a self-aware, reflected and more competent use of digital media.