Media maturity
Media maturity is the goal of media education that thinks from the perspective of people who develop towards autonomy . A media-mature person is therefore someone who has as much control of the media as possible and who is not controlled by them. Self-determined decisions require mature judgment. Before children reach this point, they should be protected from excessive, captivating media exposure. In this way, they should first be able to develop other fundamental life skills before applying them to their use of the media. Media education, which is based on the concept of media maturity, asks above all from what age child development can be promoted better through which media than through alternative occupations and aligns its statements with media impact research .
Concept history
Maturity comes from “die Munt ” (Old High German for “protection”, “umbrella”, “preservation”); A guardian is someone who protects his or her wards from harm and overreaching. A mature person is someone who can stand up for themselves and work independently ( autonomously ) for their own long-term goals. As long as a child or a young person is too young to recognize possible disadvantages and threats to his development, he is placed under the protection of an adult who stands up for him and represents him. The development towards self-determination is seen as the result of a maturation process. The concept of media maturity applies this concept to the relationship of the developing person to (new) media . It was first used in the 1990s at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at the University of Klagenfurt as a title for a research project. In the German-speaking area, the concept of media maturity is mainly represented by the media educator Paula Bleckmann . She also uses it to differentiate it from the more common term media literacy , which, in her opinion, has been misused too often and is therefore only of limited use as a target description in media education.
Practical implications
pedagogy
The concept of media maturity is taken up particularly in the Waldorf educational context. In order for the child to become media-aware, it is important that they first acquire skills such as willpower , ability to concentrate , etc. in life , which they can then use in relation to and with the media. It would be better to acquire these skills initially without media in an indirect media pedagogy. This plays an outstanding role at the beginning of childhood, to which age-appropriate direct media education is gradually being added.
Primary prophylaxis of media addiction
The opposite of media maturity is media addiction , which should be prevented. In particular, computer game addiction was officially included in a medical diagnostic system for the first time in 2013 with the DSM-5 . The first standardized and evaluated suspected diagnostic questionnaire has existed for Germany since 2015, which uses the criteria of the DSM-5 and estimates the annual prevalence of computer game addiction for Germany's adolescents and young adults at 1–2%. The more precise definition of other forms of media addiction and internet addiction is still a matter of research. Pediatricians, too, are increasingly understanding media advice for parents and young people as a primary preventive task, and are researching it.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bleckmann, P. (2012): Medienmündig . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart. ISBN 978-3-608-94626-0
- ^ History of the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at the University of Klagenfurth
- ↑ Paula Bleckmann as professor at the Alanus University
- ↑ Kullack-Ublick, H., et al. (2015): Struwwelpeter 2.0. Media empowerment and Waldorf education . Published by the working group for media maturity and Waldorf education in the Federation of Independent Waldorf Schools in cooperation with Aktion Mündige Schule eV
- ↑ Hübner, E. (2015): Media and pedagogy: points of view for understanding the media, foundations of an anthroposophical-anthropological media pedagogy. DRUCKtuell, Stuttgart. ISBN 978-3-944911-16-8
- ↑ Rehbein, F et al. (2015): CSAS Computer Game Dependency Scale: A Method for Recording Internet Gaming Disorder according to DSM-5 . Hogrefe, Göttingen.
- ↑ Rehbein, F et al. (2015): Computer game addiction in adolescence: epidemiology, phenomenology and diagnostics. Monthly Journal of Paediatrics 163 (7): 701-705. doi : 10.1007 / s00112-014-3240-4 .
- ↑ Reckert, T. (2016): Media maturity: A key concept for primary prevention . The pediatrician 47 (9): 608-13. ISSN 0340-5877
- ↑ Marlene Mortler (Drugs Commissioner of the Federal Government) (2015): Press release from July 16, 2015: First results of the BLIKK-Medien project Strengthening children and young people in the digital world - First results of the BLIKK-Medien project presented ( Memento of the original from 18. September 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
