The third module is concentrating on the tension between communication and decision-making in democratic societies and modern forms of technology induced communication.
The third module is concentrating on the tension between communication and decision-making in democratic societies and modern forms of technology induced communication.
Thereby, the first focus should be on the easy production and spread of information and the impact on the public debate. Second, the module is shedding light on communication patterns induced by social media and its personalisation algorithms as well as the developments of echo chambers in messenger chat groups.
The first objective is to educate youngsters the basics of democratic societies. They focus, in particular on how political decisions are brewed in societal communication and discussion processes. They also learn about the important notions of truth and trust as the basic factors that glue democratic societies together. They realise that this glue is undermined by “fake news” and disinformation.
The second objective is to illustrate how the explosion of easily available information is increasing the passivity of the media consumer and is not automatically contributing to a healthy public debate about societal and political developments. In fact, social media and digital communication in general is having at best an ambivalent impact on the public debate.
Youngsters are shown how media coverage of important societal developments has changed over time and how this is contributing to a greater polarization in the society. Youngsters are also learning about the polarizing effects of echo chambers and personalised content delivery in social media on the democratic communication.
The third objective is to equip youngsters with a skill set in democratic communication. They learn how to behave when confronted with polarised and extremist argumentation on social media or in real life. This includes conspiracy theories as well.
